Cultural and Pragmatic Aspect of Polite Refusal in Chinese and Korean Languages

This article is devoted to identifying the features of politeness representation in the Chinese and Korean languages using the example of a refusal situation. For this purpose, we did not consider the classification proposed by B.I. Karadzhev in detail, but identified those types of refusals that are used to mitigate the negative consequences of communication and threats to the face of both the addressee and the addresser. As a rule, in "Confucian" cultures it is not customary to thank, much less accept praise, it is important in such a speech situation to demonstrate modesty, which is expressed by belittling one's merits and achievements. Confucianism laid a solid foundation for the spiritual and cultural picture of the world of China and Korea, which had a significant impact on the national languages. It should be noted that Korean Confucianism has its own specifics, in particular the principle of "uiiri"(“一理”), which calls for being caring for the common good and striving for balance. This explains the delicate and polite style of communication in the Korean language, as well as the use of unclear, indirect lexemes and speech patterns. In Chinese, quantitative quantifiers and various etiquette formulas are used to maintain friendly communication. Based on the results, another one was added to the list of polite refusals – a modest refusal of a compliment.

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