Ostensible Refusals in Mandarin Chinese

This study investigates ostensible refusals in response to four types of stimulus speech acts (request, suggestion, invitation and offer). Based on the collected data, the study aims to make an overall analysis of ostensible refusal speech acts in Chinese language and explores the basic guiding principle that underlies the interactional process of ostensible refusing. Consequently, it briefly revisits the ostensible refusals in Chinese context. The results show that ostensible refusals can exist in all four types of initiating speech acts, among which the ostensible refusals to request and suggestion are rarely investigated. Overall, ostensible refusals rely on both linguistic and non-linguistic (prosodic and paralinguistic features) devices. In terms of manner and pragmatic efforts of ostensible refusing, they vary slightly from type to type. Underlying the ostensible refusal-negotiation is the dynamic balance principle which guides interactants to employ different pragmatic strategies in ostensible refusing.