英语本科毕业论文-中美拒绝语的对比研究.doc

本科毕业论文（设计）资料姓名： 学号： 学院： 外语学院 专业： 英 语 班级： 07级1班 指导教师： A Comparative Study on Chinese and American Refusal中美拒绝语的对比研究Major: English 专 业： 英 语Author: Gao Yue作 者： Supervisor: Han Qing指导教师： University: Eastern Liaoning University学位授予单位： 辽东学院Time: June, 2011完成时间： 2011年6月辽东学院本科毕业论文 辽东学院本科毕业论文原创性声明 本人郑重声明：此处所提交的本科毕业论文中美拒绝语的对比研究是本人在导师指导下，在辽东学院外语学院学习期间独立进行研究所取得的成果。据本人所知，论文中除已注明部分外不包含他人已发表或撰写过的研究成果，对本文的研究工作做出重要贡献的个人和集体均已注明。本声明的法律结果与导师无关，将完全由本人承担。 作者签名： 日期： 年 月 日辽东学院本科毕业论文（设计）版权使用授权书本论文作者及指导教师完全了解“辽东学院论文版权使用规定”，同意辽东学院保留并向国家有关部门或机构送交毕业论文的复印件和电子版，允许论文被查阅和借阅。本人授权辽东学院可以将本学位论文的全部或部分内容编入有关数据库进行检索，也可采用影印、缩印或扫描等复制手段保存和汇编毕业论文。 作者签名： 导师签名： 年 月 日12ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSUpon the finish of this paper, A Comparative Study on Chinese and American Refusal, Id like to express my sincere appreciation to all those who have helped me in the course of my writing this paper.First, I have my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Ms. Han Qing, who has given me the constant encouragement, and the valuable instruction. Her instruction enabled me to express my idea in a better way. Her great patience and insightful supervision played a vital part in the completion of the paper. Without her enlightening advice and encouragement, this paper wouldnt be finished. Second, my thanks would go to my classmates and friends for their patience in answering my questions during my thesis writing.Finally, I would like to extend my thanks to my beloved family, for their support and encouragement.ABSTRACTRefusal, as a universal phenomenon, has attracted wide attention in the academic circle. As refusal is a kind of face-threatening action in essence, people try their best to make refusal sound polite. However, the ways people use refusal vary from culture to culture. Against the background of deepening inter-cultural communication, knowledge of the language can no longer satisfy the needs of communication. Therefore, this paper attempts to study on the differences between Chinese and American usage of the refusal and reasons, to offer some implications for the international communicators. This paper is divided into four parts. The introduction part gives a brief account of the research background and significance. The second part makes a comparative study on differences between Chinese and American refusal from two aspects: ways of using refusal and intention of using refusal. The third part mainly analyzes the reasons from three aspects: cultural value, power distance and context culture. The conclusion part explicitly points out that the refusal is used quite differently in America and China, and it summarizes the main reasons causing those differences. This part also specifies some limitations in the study, and in addition, it proposes some suggestions for the people involved in the intercultural communication.Key words: refusal, differences, culture 内 容 摘 要拒绝语是一种普遍现象，也是学术界研究的焦点之一。由于拒绝语在本质上是一种威胁面子的行为，所以人们会想方设法让拒绝行为显得礼貌。拒绝语的用法在不同的文化中存在着差异。在跨文化交际日益深入的今天，单纯掌握语言层面的差异已经远远不能满足交际的需求。因此，本文试图探究中美拒绝语在使用方面的差异，并剖析成因，旨在为跨文化交际者提供一些启示。本文分为四个部分。引言部分简要介绍研究的背景和意义。第二部分着重从两个个方面比较研究中美拒绝语的差异，包括拒绝语使用的方式以及拒绝的目的。第三部分着重从三个方面探究造成差异的原因，包括文化价值观、权力距离以及语境文化。结论部分明确指出了拒绝语的使用在中美两国之间存在着明显的差异，并总结了造成这些差异的主要原因。此外，结论部分还指出了一些有待于研究的问题，为跨文化交际者提供了一些建议。关键词：拒绝语 差异 文化CONTENTSAcknowledgements.IAbstract.II内容摘要IIIContentsIV1 Introduction12 Differences between Chinese and American Refusal12.1 Different ways of using refusal12.1.1 More indirect refusal in Chinese12.1.2 More direct refusal in American22.2 Different intention of using refusal32.2.1 Saving face and showing politeness in Chinese32.2.2 Ensuring clarity and effectiveness in American43 Reasons causing Differences in Chinese and American Refusal53.1 Reason of cultural value53.1.1 Individualism in American culture53.1.2 Collectivism in Chinese culture63.2 Reason of power distance73.2.1 Low power distance in American culture73.2.2 High power distance in Chinese culture73.3 Reason of context culture83.3.1 Low context in American culture93.3.2 High context in Chinese culture94 Conclusions10Bibliography12A Comparative Study on Chinese and American Refusal1 Introduction Refusal frequently takes place in daily communication. It is taken as a speakers action of “denying engaging in an action proposed by the interlocutor” (Chen and Zhang, 1995). To put it simply, refusal refers to saying no to a request, suggestion, or an invitation, offer, etc. It is face-threatening in nature, therefore, many scholars have attached importance to how to make refusal sound polite so as to maintain a harmonious relationship. Although refusal is a universal phenomenon, the ways people use it may vary in different cultures. Most studies on refusal in past years are conducted from a pragmatic or sociolinguistic perspective, while few of them are conducted from an intercultural perspective. However, against the backdrop of deepening inter-cultural communication, knowledge of the language can no longer satisfy the needs. Therefore, this paper attempts to make an analysis on the differences between Chinese and American usage of refusal and reasons.2 Differences between Chinese and American Refusal Refusal plays an important part in promoting a successful communication. For Chinese and Americans, refusal is conducted quite differently. Therefore, to facilitate inter-cultural communication, a comparative study on Chinese and American refusal is quite necessary. 2.1 Different ways of using refusal Generally speaking, refusal falls into two categories: direct refusal and indirect refusal. And which one is used more in each country is also quite different.2.1.1 More indirect refusal in ChineseComparatively speaking, Chinese people use more indirect refusal. Although direct refusal can effectively accomplish the goal of the refusal, it is often associated with impoliteness and threat to others faces. Direct refusal can do harm to maintain the interpersonal relationship, however, in Chinese culture, the harmonious relationship is much emphasized. Given that, Chinese people tend to use indirect refusal more often to establish or maintain harmonious interpersonal relationships. According to Wang Aihua and Wu Guiliangs study (2004), which focuses on how the refusal varies in terms of directness with situation and culture, Chinese people are more likely to use indirect refusal. The statistics reveals only 5.7% of the refusal in Chinese is realized through direct refusal, while more than 85% of the refusal is realized by indirect refusal. Their study supports that Chinese people prefer indirect refusal.Specifically, Chinese people like to refuse in a vague way and prefer to use negative ability or possibility as excuses rather than the word “no” as it sounds rigid. For example, when an employee refuses night-shift, he may respond in this way, “I am sorry, Sir. Something emergent occurs and I have to deal with it. Or I will definitely do it!” Postponement by means of vague promising is also a trait in Chinese refusal, especially in workplace. For example, when Chinese managers respond to their subordinates requests, they would say “Ill consider your request later.” In this way, the managers intend to convey the message that they have respected for the subordinates requests. On the other hand, the rigid refusal is avoided. Besides, Chinese people may resort to empathy adjuncts. Empathy adjuncts mean that the speakers show their empathy over the situation of the hearers when they refuse them. For example, a Chinese manager may refuse his employees asking for an increase in wage by expressing his empathy for the employee, such as “we understand your difficulties.” To sum up, all those can prove that Chinese people prefer to use indirect refusal. 2.1.2 More direct refusal in American Although Americans use both indirect and direct refusal, compared with Chinese, they tend to use more direct refusal. It does not mean that Americans do not attach importance to maintain the face or interpersonal relationship. Americans believe that how to refuse, and how to save face are personal things, they stick to the idea that respect an individuals liberty, right and independence are regarded as polite, and lack of those will be considered as impolite or even rude. Direct refusal is in Americans mind an effective and powerful means of satisfying the needs of refusing and communicating.A pile of empirical studies have also proved that Americans use more direct refusal than their Chinese counterparts. Shao Qun (2006) conducted a contrastive study on Chinese and American refusal among 40 non-English major students from Yangzhou University and 40 students from Arizona State University. The study reveals that the Chinese group used an average of 7.33 times as indirect refusal versus direct refusal, while American group used an average of 5.67 times as indirect refusal versus direct refusal. Different from Chinese, Americans favor either negative willingness such as “I cant” or “no” to directly refuse others. For example, Americans when turning down their friends invitations, they may respond in the way, “Im sorry, I cant. Im not available this evening”. As to the means of postponement by making a vague promise and empathy adjuncts, Americans seldom use them. Because they think a promise should be definite, and it should be carried out. So, they seldom make promises without full consideration and determination to fulfill them. With regard to the empathy, as what Beebe (1990) states in his study, when Americans refuse those from lower status, empathy sounds like “sympathy”, thus, it threatens the interlocutors face. Therefore, we can draw the conclusion that Americans favor direct refusal.2.2 Different intention of using refusalGenerally speaking, people use refusal to convey their unwillingness to do, accept, give or allow. However, despite the universality, refusal in different cultures is used for different purpose.2.2.1 Saving face and showing politeness in Chinese Face is an essential element in daily communication. The research on Chinese concepts of face was initiated by Hu, who for the first time discovered that face in China could be classified into two types, “lian” and “mian-zi” (Hu, 1944). Jia (1997) argues that face is interpersonal identity that exists in our communication process. In Chinese culture, interpersonal relationship is much stressed, but refusal is highly face-threatening, therefore, when making refusal, both sides faces should be taken into consideration. Speakers want to save their own face so that they can leave certain room for themselves to reconsider the decision. They also take into account how to avoid hurting their partners feelings and avoid hurting the hearers face, because Chinese people attach great importance to building a positive image in others mind and maintain a harmonious relationship. So, they use refusal in such a way that the negative evaluation in the hearers can be avoided or at least minimized. Politeness is another important concern for Chinese people. He Zhaoxiong (2000) interprets politeness as “an observable social phenomenon which can be easily made judgments about. He also thinks politeness can be regarded as a restraint or a social norm imposed by the conventions of the community where we live.” (He, 2000:37) In short, politeness can be understood as a social phenomenon, a means to establish and maintain the smooth and harmonious interpersonal relationship, and a norm imposed by social conventions. As refusal is a kind of face-threatening action, showing politeness can minimize the degree of threats caused by refusing. And in addition, Gu Yueguo (1992), a professor in Beijing Foreign Studies University further points out that there exists one cardinal principle underneath the concept of politeness-“balance”. Balance connotes that polite behavior by self calls for similar behavior in return by other (the folk notion is huanli: to return politeness), otherwise the other would be indebted.” (Gu, 1992:15) That is, if the speaker is polite to the hearer, the latter ought to be polite to the former, which is typical in Chinese culture. So in order to reduce the bad influence incurred by refusing on both sides, and also get the return from the interlocutor, Chinese people will try their best to make their refusal sound polite.2.2.2 Ensuring clarity and effectiveness in American Unlike Chinese people with concern over face-saving and politeness, Americans tend to show more concern over clarity and effectiveness in daily communication when using refusal. According to Cao Huimin (2008), Americans tend to stress more on how clearly they have conveyed their message of refusal than Chinese people. The data reveals that Americans rate an average of 5.97 in the concern over clarity, while Chinese people rate 4.25. Americans tend to try their best to make refusal as clearly as possible, because they hope to make sure that the hearers get across the message they have conveyed. Besides, Americans give priority to effectiveness. By effectiveness, it means the speaker tries his or her best to achieve the communication goal of refusal. What he or she concerns is whether that goal can be accomplished or not. As American culture highly values time and efficiency, Americans place more emphasis on the concern of effectiveness. Therefore, to make refusal as effective as possible, Americans may resort to different types of refusal on different occasions.3 Reasons causing Differences in Chinese and American RefusalIt is universally acknowledged that language is a mirror of its culture and that culture nurtures specific language. The differences in Chinese and American refusal can be justified by cultural discrepancies. This section intends to explain the reasons for those differences from three aspects: individualism-collectivism dimension, power distance and high-context and low-context dimension. 3.1 Reason of Cultural ValueCultural value is very important in any culture, because the main cultural differences can be found in cultural values. Cultural value forms and is formed by language, so we can say that how to refuse in any community has an intimate relationship with the cultural value of this community. From the study of Chinese and American refusal, we find that different cultural values have played an essential role in the usage of the refusal.3.1.1 Individualism in American culture Individualism is the core value in western culture. Individualism is “a theory that favors free action and complete liberty of belief for each individual person”. (Hofstede 1991:46-47) In individualistic countries, freedom, right, independence and equal relationships are highly valued. America is a typical country with individualism, relationships between people are not close, and Americans hold the idea that “heaven helps those who help themselves.” According to this, obligations, responsibilities or commitments which are highly appreciated and respected in China are to great extent devalued by Americans as they are considered as threats to self autonomy, freedom of action or individual rights. Americans lay stress on “I” identity rather than on “we” identity, they take personal needs or goals prior to groups needs or goals. Therefore, in the case of refusal, Americans usually adopt direct refusal and sometimes along with some explanations and reasons. They think even they directly refuse the interlocutor, they have shown the respect for an individuals liberty, right and independence. Concerning the reasons Americans give are usually the subjective matters. For example, when Americans refuse the request to have a look at the notes, he may explain, “Sorry, I need to read these notes too”, this can also reflect its individualistic cultural value.3.1.2 Collectivism in Chinese culture Chinese culture is characterized by collectivism. Collectivism holds that “the group-the nation, the community, the race, etc. is the ultimate standard of value.”(Hofstede, 1991:45) Chinese people from their birth are involved in certain groups, they get strength and support from the group when they are in trouble with the premise that they must be absolutely loyal to the group. As collectivist-oriented, Chinese people want to integrate into a community, they attach great importance to depend on each other, they believe that everyone is the interdependent self. They pay more attention to others feelings, they think or behave from the perspective of others, each of them is told that his/her duty is to make others feel happy, to achieve groups interests rather than fulfill the personal desire, he/she is not only represent himself/herself but also the group. Generally speaking, Chinese people take groups goals and values prior to the individuals, they emphasize the groups achievement and regard a harmonious group relationship as the ultimate goal.So, in case, when Chinese people have to refuse, they generally use more indirect refusal, as it sounds more polite by taking into account refusees feelings and it can soft the face-threatening of the refusal. In order to maintain a harmonious relationship, Chines