Declining an Invitation in Social Networks from a Sociopragmatic Perspective

Abstract

Declining an invitation is an important speech act to be mastered by second language speakers. This study was conducted with the aim of elaborating the invitation refusal strategies used by native speakers of Malay (MNSs) and Japanese (JNSs) as well as clarifying the “politeness effects” on the strategies used by the MNSs in Japanese. The data collection methods utilised in this study were open role-play through social networking services followed by post-task interviews. The study compared the order of semantic formulas and the usage of emojis between 20 MNSs and 20 JNSs. Comparisons were made in both native and intercultural contexts. The politeness effects were discussed based on Discourse Politeness Theory. The results showed that there was no significant difference between native contexts and intercultural contexts in terms of the order of semantic formulas and the usage of emojis. None of the cases produced a negative-politeness effect in this study although two cases were considered pragmatic transfers. This study has proved that strategies that differ from the target language norm do not necessarily affect smooth communication in intercultural interactions; instead, they are still acceptable upon cooperation between the sender and the recipient of the message.