拒绝语与文化差异（辽东学院英语专业专科毕业论文）

辽东学院本科毕业论文 本科毕业论文（设计）资料姓名： XXXX 学号： XXX070104 学院：XXXX学院 专业： 英 语 班级： 指导教师： XXX 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4ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSUpon 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 to2 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 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 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 2.2 Different intention of using refusalGenerally speaking, people use refusal to convey their unwillingness to do, accept, 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 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 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 3.1.2 Collectivism in Chinese culture Chinese culture is characterized by collectivism. Collectivism holds that “the 3.2 Reason of power distancePower distance “is the extent to which less powerful members of institutions and organizations within a country expect or accept that power is distributed unequally.” (Hofstede1991: 262). According to Hofstede (1991), power distance can exert great influence on language behaviors in all cultures. America and China are the typical examples of low power distance and high power distance. And different power distance in America and China is another important element which can be explained why the refusal is used differently in these two countries.3.2.1 Low power distance in American culture In American culture, those who hold the power and those who are controlled by the power are particularly close. Therefore, we can say American culture belongs to low 3.2.2 High power distance in Chinese culture In Chinese culture, the power holders and those who are controlled by power are significantly far apart, so, Chinese culture is a typical high power distance culture. In China, power is distributed unequally, and the inequality of the power can be accepted Due to the high power distance culture in China, it is common to find that Chinese people with superior status turn down a request or a suggestion from their subordinates. But it is more difficult for the subordinates to do the same, and if they have to do so, they must offer some reasonable explanations. If the subordinates are rebellious and courageous enough to claim for equality, they may risk losing the jobs and destroying the harmonious relationships with their superiors. When Chinese people refuse their superiors, they tend to employ the reasons, regrets, or alternatives. Although the expression of regret in Chinese “对不起” does not necessarily suggest the speaker really feels sorry, but it means that the situation is out of control. Usually they will also suggest an alternative to show their sincerity, and to some extent the offering of alternatives can be seen as the action of regretting too.In a word, peoples behavior of refusal usually confirm to the power distance. Therefore, the high power distance culture of China has a great influence on Chinese peoples usage of refusal.3.3 Reason of context culture Chinese peoples preference for face needs, indirect and implicit refusal, American peoples preference for direct and explicit refusal can also be explained by the differences of high-context (HC) and low-context (LC) cultures.3.3.1 Low-context in American culture Generally speaking, a low-context culture refers to that the meaning of a persons saying is largely depended on verbal words instead of on the context. Low-context XXbe”; but in Chinese version “may be” is often a mild and indirect way to say “no”, which often makes Americans feel very confused.3.3.2 High-context in Chinese culture Contrast to low-context culture, a high-context culture means the meaning of ones 4 ConclusionsThis paper reveals that Chinese people and Americans use refusal quite differently. And cultural value, power distance and context culture all influence how people perform the refusal. However, there are still some limitations in the study. First, the similarities of the refusal between the two cultures are excluded from the study. Second, it fails to conduct an empirical investigation into the use of refusal within certain communities. Third, it fails to compare the refusal based on different situations as different situations may usually lead to different speech of act. Despite the limitations, the study has offered some implications for those who involved in the intercultural communicationBibliographyBeebe, L. 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