Keywords
Pragmatics
Non-verbal behavior
Verbal behavior
Face Theory
Submitted : 2024-07-01
Accepted : 2024-07-16
Published : 2024-07-31
Abstract
Using 80 short video examples about refusal language strategies on Douyin short videos as a corpus, this study explores the commonality and individuality, as well as the contradictory relationship between Chinese and British countries in the use of refusal language strategies by combining manual and graphical data analyses. It is found that Chinese people use more indirect ways of using refusal speech acts, and British and American countries use more direct ways of using refusal speech acts. In addition to this, both Chinese and British countries use non-verbal behavior to reject speech as a way of protecting the positive face of the addressee and reducing the threatening behavior to the face of the other party. This study also found that the ambivalent relationship between the emergence of refusal language strategies in both China and Britain is related to their personal psychological state, social values, and personal face. The results of this study have some values for sociology as well as pragmatics, which is conducive to the maintenance of interpersonal relationships.
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