Publications

Publication details [#61381]

Sharifian, Farzad and Homa Babai Shishavan. 2016. The refusal speech act in a cross-cultural perspective: A study of Iranian English-language learners and Anglo-Australian speakers. Language & Communication 47 : 75–88.
Publication type
Article in journal
Publication language
English
Language as a subject
Place, Publisher
Elsevier

Annotation

It is shown that in interaction with addressees of bigger social power, both Iranian English-language learners and Anglo-Australian students deploy more indirect refusal strategies. When refusals involved status equals though, Iranian and Australian participants' performance varied to an extent that could entail intercultural miscommunication. Focus group interviews (FGIs) disclosed that first language cultural schemas of ritual politeness and state/feeling of distance-out-of-respect highly influenced Iranian students' refusals.