Modal Expressions in Refusals of Friends' Interpersonal Requests: Politeness and Effectiveness

Abstract

Researchers theorize that modal expressions (e.g., can, may, could, and should) serve politeness functions in discourse, particularly in requests and refusals. This study sought to empirically determine whether requesters perceived refusals containing modal expressions as more polite than their non-modal counterparts. The results showed that refusals containing modal expressions are judged as more polite but they are mixed when examining whether refusals containing modal expressions are perceived as more effective than their non-modal counterparts. The discussion section addresses the implications of these findings for the study and creation of refusal messages.

Keywords:

• Modal Expressions
• Politeness
• Refusals

The author would like to thank the students in SPCM353 (Fall 2005) and SPCM341 (Spring 2006) for their assistance with data collection and two anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments. An earlier version of this article was presented at the 2007 Eastern Communication Association Annual Meeting in Providence, RI.

Notes

Note. Standard deviations are in parentheses. Means with common subscripts do not differ significantly from each other.