Politeness Strategies for Offers and Refusals in English and Wolof

Abstract

Drawing upon Goffman’s concept of face and Brown and Levinson’s politeness theory, this article aims to study positive and negative politeness strategies in English and Wolof offers and refusals. The findings of this study have shown that factors such as the cost of the imposition, relative power, and social distance determine the use of politeness strategies in both English and Wolof. This study contributes to the knowledge of intercultural and cross-cultural communications. It ultimately helps foreign language instructors to better integrate intercultural communication strategies into the classroom.