RUDN Journal of Language Studies, Semiotics and SemanticsRUDN Journal of Language Studies, Semiotics and SemanticsВестник Российского университета дружбы народов. Серия: Теория языка. Семиотика. Семантика2313-22992411-1236Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia named after Patrice Lumumba (RUDN University)1701410.22363/2313-2299-2017-8-3-531-542ARTICLESСТАТЬИResearch ArticleREFUSAL STRATEGIES IN ENGLISH AND RUSSIANСТАРАТЕГИИ ОТКАЗА В АНГЛИЙСКОЙ И РУССКОЙ ЛИНГВОКУЛЬТУРАХIliadiParaskevi-Lukeriya LИлиадиП ЛIliadi Paraskevi-Lukeriya, Graduate Student at Department of General and Russian Linguistics at RUDN University; scientific interests: Pragmatics, Discourse Analysis, Theory of Politeness/ImpolitenessИлиади Параскеви-Лукерья, магистр кафедры общего и русского языкознания филологического факультета РУДН; научные интересы: прагматика, анализ дискурса, теория вежливости/не вежливостиousailiadi@hotmail.co.ukLarinaTatiana VЛаринаТ ВLarina Tatiana Viktorovna, Doctor of Filology, Professor at RUDN University, Editor-in-Chief of Russian Journal of Linguistics; research interests: Pragmatics, Discourse Analysis, Theory of Politeness/ Impoliteness, Intercultural CommunicationТатьяна Викторовна Ларина, доктор филологических наук, профессор кафедры иностранных языков филологического факультета РУДН, главный редактор журнала Вестник РУДН. Серия: Лингвистика; научные интересы: прагматика, анализ дискурса, теория вежливости/не вежливости, межкультурная коммуникацияtatiana.larina@rudn.universityRUDN UniversityРоссийский университет дружбы народов1512201783VOL 8, NO3 (2017)ТОМ 8, №3 (2017)53154213102017Copyright ©; 2017, Iliadi P.L., Larina T.V.Copyright ©; 2017, Илиади П.Л., Ларина Т.В.2017Iliadi P.L., Larina T.V.Илиади П.Л., Ларина Т.В.https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0https://journals.rudn.ru/semiotics-semantics/article/view/17014He article explores the speech act of refusal in British English and Russian and investigates British and Russian refusal strategies from the perspective of cross-cultural communication. The study aims to find similarities and differences between the ways of refusing requests, offers and invitations in different social contexts in two languages and cultures. It was conducted with the implementation of Speech Act Theo-ry (Austin 1962, Searle 1969, Searle & Vandervken 1985), Politeness Theory (Brown and Levinson 1987, Leech 1983, 2014, Larina and Leech 2014, Watts 2003), and the Theory of Cultural Scripts (Wierzbicka 1991/2003). The modified version of the Discourse Completion Test (DCT) developed by Beebe et al. (1990) was used for data collection. The study has revealed both quantitative and qualitative differences in refusal strategies which exist due to cultural differences, culture-specific politeness strategies and Communicative Styles (Larina 2015, Larina, Mustajoki, Protassova 2017). It has found that the Russians use more direct strategies than the British and are more taciturn and laconic. The British do more face-work to mitigate their refusal, they use both negative and positive strategies with higher regularity and are more voluble. The knowledge of communicative differences in refusal as well as in other speech acts is necessary for the acquisition and development of pragmatic competence of L2 English learners and successful intercul-tural communication.В статье приведены некоторые результаты сопоставительного исследования речевого акта Отказ в английской (британской) и русской лингвокультурах. Цель статьи - показать сходства и разли-чия в реализации отказа на предложение, просьбу и приглашение в различных ситуациях и социальных контекстах с учетом варьирования горизонтальной и вертикальной дистанции между участника-ми речевого акта. Теоретическую базу исследования составили теория речевых актов (Austin 1962, Searle 1969, Searle & Vandervken 1985), теория вежливости (Brown and Levinson 1987, Leech 1983, 2014, Larina and Leech 2014, Watts 2003), а также теория культурных скриптов А. Вежбицкой (Wierzbicka 1991/2003). Материалом исследования послужили высказывания английских и русских информантов, полученные в результате проведенного анкетирования. Анализ выявил ряд особенностей как количественного, так и качественного характера. В статье предпринята попытка объяснить выявленные различия с позиций различий в культурах, в понимании вежливости и в этнокультурных стилях коммуникации (Larina 2015, Larina, Mustajoki, Protassova 2017). Было выявлено, что отказ русских более краткий и прямой, чем отказ англичан, которые более многословны и используют комплекс стратегий как негативной, так и позитивной вежливости, для его смягчения. Знание культурно-специфичных особенностей отказа, как и других речевых актов, необходимо для формирования прагматической компетенции и успешной межкультурной коммуникации.speech act of refusalpoliteness strategiescommunicative ethno-stylepragmatic competenceречевой акт отказстратегии вежливостикоммуникативный этностильпрагматическая компетенция[Al-Eyrani, A.A. (2007). 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