4. Speech Act of Refusals
Refusals are the negative response to acceptances and consents Searle and Vandervken, 1985: 195. In addition, Searle in Felix-Brasdefer 2008: 42
explains that refusals belong to the category of commisives because they commit the refuser to perform an action. Wierzbicka in Phuong 2006: 16 states that
refusals mean the speech acts of saying no , expressing the addressee‘s non-
acceptance, and declining of or disagreeing with a request, an invitation, a suggestion or an offer.
Beebe, Takahashi, and Uliss Welz 1990: 72-73 classify refusals into three types. They are direct type, indirect type, and adjuncts to refusals. In addition,
Felix-Brasdefer in his book entitled Politeness in Mexico and United States: A Contrastive Study of The Realization and Perception of Refusals also states that
linguistic expression employed in refusals may include direct strategies, indirect strategies, and adjuncts to refusals 2008: 42 - 43.
a. Types of Refusals
Bebee, Takahashi, and Uliss Welz 1990: 72 – 73 classify the types of
refusals into three types. The types of refusals are direct type, indirect type, and adjuncts to refusals.
1 Direct Type
Direct type of refusals is performed by the refuser without reservation. The refuser states directly that he will not comply with the request, suggestion, offer,
or invitation. The realizations of direct type include performative and non-
performative statement.
a Performative Statement
Meanwhile, performative verb refers to the act in which the speaker is involved at the moment of speech Leech, 1983: 215. In refusals, performative
statement is indicated by the statement I refuse and I decline. An example of performative statement can be seen in the statement I refuse to postpone the final
exam. The speaker in the example is a teacher who will hold a final exam. However, his students request to postpone the final exam by next week. By
uttering I refuse to postpone the final exam, he directly refuses to comply with his students‘ request.
b Non-performative Statement
In the non-performative statement, there are two realizations which can be employed by the refuser. The realizations are no and negative willingnessability.
i No
The speaker will say No in refusing. Phuong 2006: 34 explains that saying No to someone is usually followed by language softener, except when people are
extremely direct in refusing. An example is presented in the conversation below:
A: Go to bed. B: No
The example shows how A directly refuses B‘s request. The refusal performed by B i
s considered an extreme direct refusal because B‘s refusal is not followed by language softener.
ii Negative Willingnessability
The statement of refusals contains any words which negate a proposition Phuong, 2006: 35. The negotiation can be expressed by particle not.
A: Can I borrow your car? B: I will not lend you my car.
In the example above, A wants to borrow B‘s car. However, B refuses to lend A his car. In order to refuse A‘s request, B performs a negative willingnessability
refusal as indicated by particle not in I will not. Another example of negative willingnessability is the statement
I can’t come to your party
. The speaker shows his inability to comply with the hearer‘s invitation. Similar to the previous example, the speaker‘s statement contains
particle not which is used to negate the proposition.
2 Indirect Type
Gudykunts and Ting-Toomey in Felix Brasdefer 2008: 74 state that indirect verbal style refers to verbal messages which camouflage and conceal the
speakers‘ true intention in term of their wants, needs, and goals in the discourse situation. Therefore, indirect type is employed by the refuser if they want to
indirectly refuse the request, offer, suggestion, or invitation. Indirectness is usually performed by the refuser if he tries to be polite
a The Statement of an Alternative
An alternative is suggested by the refuser when he cannot fulfill the refusee‘s request, invitation, suggestion or offer. Chen, Ye, and Zhang 1995:
133 state that an alternative is used to soften the threatening power of refusals. Moreover, it is used to avoid a direct argument or confrontation.
A: Why don‘t we go out for dinner tonight? B: How about tomorrow?
In the example above, B suggests an alternative in order to refuse A‘s suggestion to go out for dinner. B suggests A to have dinner at another time.
b Avoidance
Non-verbal and verbal refusals are the realizations which can be employed by the refuser in avoidance.
i Non-Verbal
In non-verbal, the refuser will refuse the request, suggestion, invitation, and offer by silence, hesitation, doing nothing, or physical departure. An example of
non-verbal refusal is presented in the conversation below: A: Instead of watching TV, why don‘t you clean your messy room?
B: still watching TV
Even though A suggests B to clean his room, B still watches TV. B‘s response
shows a non-verbal refusal. He chooses to do nothing in refusing.
ii Verbal
In verbal refusals, the refuser perform refusals by using several strategies, such as using joke, using hedge, switching the topic, offer, suggestion, and
invitation. The conversation below is an example of a verbal avoidance:
A: offering cigarette B: I cannot buy cigarette from you. I could spend all my salary on
cigarette since the seller is beautiful.
The refuser in the example abo ve uses joke to refuse the refusee‘s cigarette offer.
He jokes about the seller for being so beautiful that he can spend all his salary on cigarette. Another example of avoidance by using verbal strategies is presented in
the conversation below: A: Would y
ou mind to cover for me on tomorrow‘s presentation?
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