Lingustic Politeness in Malay Refusals, in the Context of Wedding Invitations

Refusal is a linguistic act that is difficult to implement and has the potential to provoke conflict. To avoid conflict and reduce the likelihood of offending the listener, the speaker will use a variety of politeness strategies in his expressions. This article aims to describe the linguistic politeness strategies used by the Malays in the speech act of refusal of wedding invitations. A wedding ceremony was chosen as the context of the study because it is one of the important and historical events in one’s life and attending it is a religious demand. A total of 40 Malay respondents participated in this study. Discourse Completion Test or DCT was the instrument used to collect data. Data were analyzed based on Beebe et al. refusal model. The findings indicate that most respondents use indirect strategies to express refusal. The “excuse” and “statement of regret” strategies have been identified as the two most frequently used strategies by respondents. From the aspect of the refusal structure, most respondents started the refusals with a “statement of regret” strategy followed by other strategies. In conclusion, manners and politeness are still widely practiced by the Malays in communication. It is hoped that the findings of this study can be used as a guide to enhance and improve the effectiveness of communication in society, especially those involving the speech act of refusal.