A sociopragmatic study of refusal strategies in the Tanjung Tanah dialect of Kerinci

Abstract

This study investigates refusal strategies in the Tanjung Tanah (henceforth: Tj. Tanah) dialect of Kerinci. First, this study identified the types of refusal strategies addressed by the native speakers of the Tj. Tanah dialect to interlocutors of high, low, and equal social status. Second, it investigated the frequencies of refusal strategies addressed by the native speakers of the Tj. Tanah dialect to interlocutors of high, low, and equal social status. Third, it explored the reasons why the native speakers of the Tj. Tanah dialect employed different refusal strategies towards interlocutors of different social statuses. This study employed a mixed-methods design. The data were collected through an open role-play and semi-structured interviews. A total of 31 native speakers of the Tj. Tanah dialect, whose ages ranged from 20 to 26 years old, were the participants in this study. 25 of them participated in the role-plays, while six others participated in semi-structured interviews. The role-play data were transcribed and classified according to the modified version of the refusal framework developed by Beebe, Takahashi and Uliss-Weltz (1990). Then, frequencies of semantic formulas of refusal strategies were determined based on percentages, while the significant difference between the mean scores of the semantic formulas of refusal strategies was examined using one-way ANOVA analysis with a significant value of p <0.05. Similarly, the data from semi-structured interviews were also transcribed. Then, the data were analysed based on the framework of thematic analysis developed by Clarke and Braun (2014). The results show that the native speakers of the Tj. Tanah dialect employed different types and frequencies of direct and indirect refusal strategies, and adjuncts when declining the wishes of interlocutors of high, low, and equal social statuses. However, these differences were not significant, as the significant value yielded by a one-way ANOVA analysis was 0.757. In line with this, the participants admitted that they employed direct and indirect refusal strategies and adjuncts to interlocutors of high, low, and equal social status to avoid conflict, recognise social differences, maintain personal principles, and show the value of companionship and familiarity.