Indonesian speech act realisation in face-threatening situations

While clarity and explicitness in responding to a request are highly desirable, there are conventionally indirect strategies people use when responding. This indirectness cannot be deemed as always indicating impoliteness as different people have different strategies in giving a response; it is determined by the cultural norms and values in which they are brought up. In this paper, we will look at the strategies Indonesians use when responding to a request at times when their circumstances pressure them to make refusals. The study reported here found that apart from giving refusals, in which indirect refusal strategies are preferred, in situations where the ranking of imposition of a request is high, they tend to accept the request. It appears that their strategies of responding are closely related to their strong willingness to maintain the (existing) harmony between them and their interlocutors.