REFUSAL STRATEGIES TO INVITATION BY NATIVE AND NON NATIVE SPEAKERS OF ENGLISH

Abstract

ABSTRACT

In Javanese context, refusal tends to threat the feelings and self worth of addressees
while in British, refusal is not normally face threatening or at least it is not
as face threatening as it is in the Javanese context. This paper compares sequencing
of semantic formulae and adjuncts of refusal to invitations phrased by native
speakers of British English and Javanese learners of English. The data of refusal
are elicited through written discourse completion tasks (DCT) involving nine scenarios.
Refusal strategies are classified based on a modified version of refusal taxonomy
by Beebe, Takahashi, and Uliss-Weltz (1990). Overall the refusal strategies
employed by the two groups are similar. Few differences in sequencing of semantic
fomulae and adjuncts of refusal are due to politeness function.

Keywords: refusal, sequential order, semantic formula, adjunct.