Requests can threaten a recipient's freedom and independence, making them feel imposed upon. Requests range from direct imperatives to indirect hints. Refusals are also often indirect to mitigate face threats. Common refusal strategies include expressing regret, providing excuses or explanations, promising future acceptance, or avoiding a direct refusal. Refusals typically follow a sequence of pre-refusal preparation, the main refusal, and post-refusal justification or conclusion. For example, an employee might hesitate in response to a request to stay late, apologize while explaining an evening plan, and reinforce their inability to stay.

1. SPEECH ACTS
Requests & Refusals
By
Luis Carlos Lasso Montenegro

2. REQUESTER
She/he may hesitate
to make requests for
fear of exposing a
need or out of fear
of possibly making
the recipient lose
face
RECIPIENT
The recipient may
feel that the request
is an intrusion on
his/her freedom of
action.
FACE-THREATENING - INTRUSIVE - DEMANDING
Requests occur when the speaker infringes on
the recipient’s freedom from imposition.

3. Refer to contextual preconditions necessary for its
performance as conventionalized in the language.
R: Could you clean up the bedroom, please?
Marked explicitly as requests, such as imperatives.
R: You’ll have to clean up the bedroom.
Hints - Partially referring to the object depending on
contextual clues
R: Your bedroom is a total mess.

4. •Hearer-oriented (emphasis on the role of the hearer)
Could you clean up the kitchen, please?
• Speaker-oriented (emphasis on the speaker’s role)
Do you think I could borrow your notes from yesterday’s
class?
Can I borrow your notes from yesterday?
•Speaker- and hearer-oriented (inclusive strategy)
So, could we tidy up the apartment soon?
•Impersonal
So it might not be a bad idea to get it cleaned up.

5. Refusals and rejections can mean
disapproval of the interlocutor's idea and
therefore, a threat to the interlocutor's face.
Refusals tend to be indirect, include mitigation, and/or delay
within the turn or across turns. The delay probably shows
that the refuser has a good reason for refusing and may
imply that would accept or agree instead.

6. • Statement of regret: I'm sorry.../I feel terrible...
•Excuse, reason, explanation.
• Statement of alternative: I'd rather.../I'd prefer...
•Promise of future acceptance:
I'll do it next time./I promise I'll.../Next time I'll...
•Statement of principle: I never do business with friends
•Avoidance:
Nonverbal (Hesitation, physical departure, silence…)
Verbal (Topic switch, joke, repetition of request,…)
•Using performative verbs/Non performative statements
I refuse to… I object to… I deny / I can´t… I won’t… I don‘t...

7. Refusals can be seen as a series
of the following sequences:
• Pre-refusal strategies: these
strategies prepare the addressee
for an upcoming refusal.
• Main refusal (Head Act): this
strategy expresses the main
refusal.
•Post-refusal strategies: these
strategies follow the head act
and tend to
emphasize, justify, mitigate, or
conclude the refusal response.
Boss (Requester)
I was wondering if you
might be able to stay a
bit late this evening,
say, until about 9:00
p.m. or so.
Employee (Refuser)
Uh, I’d really like to
But I can’t
I’m Sorry
I have plans
I really can’t stay

8. Thanks for your
attention!