A Contrastive Study of Refusal Strategies between English and Chinese

A Contrastive Study of Refusal Strategies between English and Chinese Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements forThe Degree of Master of ArtsIn the School of Foreign Studies of Anhui University By Li Jiayu Under the Supervision ofProfessor Zhu Yue Anhui University HeFei April 30, 2004 Acknowledgements I am grateful to Professor Zhu Yue, who has admitted me to his “211” Research Project of the contrastive studies of English and Chinese, which has initiated me to set this field as my topic for the postgraduate paper. His originative ideas and constant encouragement have helped me a lot throughout my writing of this paper. I show my sincerest thanks to him.In addition, I have benefited enormously from the lectures, which I have attended during the past three years of my postgraduate study. These lectures are from Professor Chen Zhengfa, Professor Hong Zengliu, Professor Hu Jian, Professor Hua Quankun, Professor Tian Debei, Professor Wang Xiaoling, Professor Zhang Ming, Professor Zhou Fangzhu and Dr. Zhu Xiaomei. Their lively and enlightening lectures have enriched my knowledge in literature, translation, lexicology, western religion, critique writing, cross-cultural communication and pedagogy.Thanks also go to Professor Jill Jewell from America, who has given us lectures on British literature. She has helped me a lot in designing the English questionnaires for this paper.I would also like to thank all those people who have spared their time and efforts to fill in my questionnaires and some of them have even offered me very valuable advice on improving the questionnaires.Finally, I want to extend my gratitude to my classmates for their kind help not only in my studies but also in my eve...