Compliments and Refusals in Poland and England

Joanna Bhatti; Vladimir Žegarac

doi:10.2478/v10015-011-0025-x

Authors

Joanna Bhatti University of Bedfordshire
Vladimir Žegarac University of Bedfordshire

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.2478/v10015-011-0025-x

Abstract

There are significant cross-cultural differences in the way compliments and refusals are made and responded to. The investigation of these speech acts touches on some interesting issues for pragmatic theory: the relation between the universal and the culture-specific features of complimenting and refusing, the importance of culture specific strategies in explaining how these speech acts are produced and responded to, as well as the relation between the message conveyed by a compliment or refusal and its affective/emotional effects on the hearer. The pilot study presented in this paper investigates the production and reception of compliments and refusals in the relatively proximate cultures of England and Poland. The findings reveal significant systematic cross-cultural differences relating to refusals, while the differences relating to compliments are fewer and more subtle. The data suggests that the cross-cultural similarities and differences observed can be explained in terms of (a) a universalist view of institutional speech acts and face concerns in rapport management, (b) the Relevance-theoretic view of communication and cognition as oriented towards maximising informativeness and (c) some culture-specific values. These tentative conclusions are based on very limited data and indicate useful directions for future research.

Author Biographies

Joanna Bhatti, University of Bedfordshire

Joanna Bhatti is currently working on a project on the communication of emotions in England and Poland at the University of Bedfordshire. She holds the MA in Intercultural Communication and the BA in English Language Studies from University of Bedfordshire, as well as the BA in English Studies (English Philology) from WSJO (College of Modern Language Studies), Poznan, Poland.

Vladimir Žegarac, University of Bedfordshire

Vladimir Žegarac after obtaining a PhD in Linguistics from University College London (UCL) worked as a researcher in the Survey of English Usage (UCL) and at Middlesex University. Since 1995 he has been employed at the University of Bedfordshire where he is currently a Reader in Language and Communication. In recent years, the specific topics he has looked at include the implications of Relevance theory for the study of intercultural communication, lexical meaning, second language learning, ideology in newspaper language.

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