Refusal Strategies of Indonesian Japanese Language Learners and Japanese Native Speakers: A Contrastive Analysis

Refusing is one of several language activities considered difficult because it tends to leave the addressee feeling uncomfortable. The refusal speech act is inseparable from the speaker's language background. This research aims to: (a) identify refusal strategies used by Japanese language learners and compare them to those used by Japanese native speakers; (b) investigate similarities and differences in the strategies used by each group; and ( c) explore problems affecting the use of refusal expressions among Japanese language learners. In order to gather data, this research uses a Discourse Completion Test (DCT) distributed to 98 Japanese language learners and 88 Japanese native speakers participating in the study. The results show similarities between Japanese language learners and Japanese native speakers in terms of the main semantic formulae or patterns of refusal strategies, using reason, apology expressions, and direct refusal. Likewise, similarities are found in the lower use of apology expressions by Japanese language learners whose mother tongue is Sundanese and by Japanese native speakers in a setting where the addressee is a lecturer to whom the speaker is close. Furthermore, Japanese language learners had problems in the use of refusal expressions: They frequently used direct refusal in the form ofjutsu no hiteikei 'negative willingness' and used terms of address. This contrasts with Japanese native speakers, who often use fakanokei 'negative ability' when refusing because the use of negative willingness in the context of refusal in Japanese culture indicates a strong rejection.