Title Lietuvių atsisakymai ir jų mandagumas /
Translation of Title Lithuanian refusals and politeness.
Authors Katinaitė, Donata ; Hilbig, Inga
DOI 10.15388/RESPECTUS.2020.39.44.77
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Is Part of Respectus Philologicus.. Vilnius : Vilniaus universiteto leidykla. 2021, t. 39, p. 58-72.. ISSN 1392-8295. eISSN 2335-2388
Keywords [eng] linguistic politeness ; refusals ; Lithuanian
Abstract [eng] This study investigates Lithuanian refusals to comply with requests. Refusals are face-threatening speech acts. They can endanger social relationships, and therefore require mitigation by employing politeness means. The aim of the study is to find out strategies, sub-strategies, internal and external modifications of Lithuanian refusals. The research data was collected from students using an open-ended discourse completion test and consists of 1046 refusals. Summarizing the results, it can be stated that Lithuanians opt for indirect refusals. When refusing directly, the least straightforward strategy – stating the inability to comply with a request – is used, especially by women. Refusals (especially the direct ones) are often mitigated with external modifications that were again more frequent in women’s responses. Socioculturally, the most acceptable and thus polite way to refuse in Lithuanian is to apologize and provide reasons. Overall, there is a clear tendency to express positive politeness when refusing.
Published Vilnius : Vilniaus universiteto leidykla
Type Journal article
Language Lithuanian
Publication date 2021
CC license CC license description