Analysing Refusal Strategies in Kuwaiti Arabic and British English: Cross-Cultural Pragmatics

This study sought to investigate the similarities and differences between the refusal strategies employed by Kuwaiti speakers of Arabic and British speakers of English. A total of 420 refusals were analysed from 24 Kuwaiti and 18 British participants, with each response divided into a set of units. A spoken discourse completion test was employed to collect the data, consisting of 10 hypothetical situations eliciting refusals of three offers, three invitations, two suggestions, and two requests. The results revealed that both groups used indirect refusal strategies more frequently than direct strategies and, moreover, that they resembled each other in their use of indirect refusals. However, the Kuwaiti participants tended to employ more direct refusal strategies with people of high status, while the British group used more direct strategies with people of low status.