Refusals in Chinese Language through Negative Statements

This article analyzes dialogues of characters in TV drama as linguistic data to examine the use of negative statements in Chinese language which is adopted for refusal. Refusal expressed through negative statements mainly includes cases where the negation elements bu or mei (you) are used. These refusals can be roughly categorized into direct refusals and indirect ones, and they reflect different refusal strategies. Negative statements with bu often directly refuse by negating the subjective willingness of the speaker (the refuser), while direct refusals with bu and indirect refusals through negating premises are relatively less common. Negative statements with mei (you have become common idiomatic expressions in Chinese to express refusals, such as mei kong and mei xingqu. It is also common to express indirect refusals, by emphasizing objective requirements that are not met, through phrases like hai mei … ne.