CHINESE AND JAPANESE VAGUE REFUSAL SPEECH ACT: SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES

Abstract

Any language is not only a part of the culture but also its carrier. Different national languages embody their unique traditional culture and at the same time are a reflection of the national way of thinking of their speakers, national customs, social values, etc. According to the division into "high-context" and "low-context" cultures, which was proposed by Hall E. T. (1959), China and Japan appear to be the representatives of high-context culture. In a high-context culture, the main transmission of information depends on the context. A large amount of information strongly depends on the context, while only a small part of the information is conveyed with the help of lingual forms. High-context cultures emphasize indirect ways of expression. That is, in Chinese and Japanese languages, only a small part of the information is transmitted verbally, while the main part of it is provided through the context and circumstances of communication. Meanwhile under the influence of the ideology of Confucianism, the avocation of "propriety" is reflected in the demand for people's polite behavior in both China and Japan. Therefore, when interacting with people, one has to pay more attention to preserving the face of others and minimizing the threat to others' faces, in particular with the help of euphemistic and subtle language expressions. Refusal is such a speech act that threatens the face of all communication participants. Therefore, in Chinese and Japanese lingual cultures, the vague speech act of refusal is usually exercised in order to avoid expressing the intention of "rejection" directly with the help of vague and unclear expressions, so as to leave a buffer zone for both parties. On the one hand, to reduce the threat of losing face by both counterparties; on the other hand, to maintain good interpersonal relations. However, each of the two languages has its own typological and cultural characteristics, and in this article, the author sets the main goal ̶ to find out the similarities and differences between the Chinese and Japanese vague refusal speech acts based on the grammatical and cultural peculiarities of the languages in focus.