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Multimodal Refusal and Response to Refusal of Chinese-Speaking Children: A Comparative Case Study

Received: 25 April 2023     Accepted: 9 May 2023     Published: 17 May 2023
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Abstract

As a complex and dynamic phenomenon, multimodal discourse has gained increasing attention in various fields. One common type of multimodal act among children is multimodal refusal, which involves a communicative act of rejecting an offer, request, or invitation using multimodal semiotic resources such as verbal languages, gestures and body movements, etc. Usually, a refusal is followed by a response to it. The analysis of children’s refusal and their responses to refusal can shed light on the ways in which they manage social relationships and interpersonal dynamics in their interactions. Choosing Chinese-speaking children’s acts of multimodal refusal on one hand and their responses to refusal on the other hand as its research object, this paper aims to examine and systematically reveal the representational and interactional characteristics of such discourse. A naturally occurred corpus of 100 videos with a length of 120.24 minutes is collected and analyzed, on the basis of which the modal representation, modal interaction and multimodal graduation characteristics of Chinese-speaking children’s multimodal refusal-response acts in the early school age are thoroughly analyzed and compared guided by Systemic Functional Grammar and Appraisal Theory. It is found that 62% of the refusal acts are caused by acts of request, and 68% of the children would use multiple modes to implement acts of refusal. Children’s multimodal refusal-response acts has the highest frequency of modal synergy, and some children would have strong emotional reactions after being refused. It is suggested that, children’s multimodal refusal-response acts should be concerned and valued by researchers, educators and children’s parents.

Published in International Journal of Language and Linguistics (Volume 11, Issue 3)
DOI 10.11648/j.ijll.20231103.13
Page(s) 78-86
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Multimodal Discourse Analysis, Chinese-Speaking Children, Refusal-Response Acts, Appraisal

References
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Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Rongbin Wang, Mengyao Zhao, Yunqing Qiao, Yaoqin Xue. (2023). Multimodal Refusal and Response to Refusal of Chinese-Speaking Children: A Comparative Case Study. International Journal of Language and Linguistics, 11(3), 78-86. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20231103.13

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    ACS Style

    Rongbin Wang; Mengyao Zhao; Yunqing Qiao; Yaoqin Xue. Multimodal Refusal and Response to Refusal of Chinese-Speaking Children: A Comparative Case Study. Int. J. Lang. Linguist. 2023, 11(3), 78-86. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20231103.13

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    AMA Style

    Rongbin Wang, Mengyao Zhao, Yunqing Qiao, Yaoqin Xue. Multimodal Refusal and Response to Refusal of Chinese-Speaking Children: A Comparative Case Study. Int J Lang Linguist. 2023;11(3):78-86. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20231103.13

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijll.20231103.13,
      author = {Rongbin Wang and Mengyao Zhao and Yunqing Qiao and Yaoqin Xue},
      title = {Multimodal Refusal and Response to Refusal of Chinese-Speaking Children: A Comparative Case Study},
      journal = {International Journal of Language and Linguistics},
      volume = {11},
      number = {3},
      pages = {78-86},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijll.20231103.13},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20231103.13},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijll.20231103.13},
      abstract = {As a complex and dynamic phenomenon, multimodal discourse has gained increasing attention in various fields. One common type of multimodal act among children is multimodal refusal, which involves a communicative act of rejecting an offer, request, or invitation using multimodal semiotic resources such as verbal languages, gestures and body movements, etc. Usually, a refusal is followed by a response to it. The analysis of children’s refusal and their responses to refusal can shed light on the ways in which they manage social relationships and interpersonal dynamics in their interactions. Choosing Chinese-speaking children’s acts of multimodal refusal on one hand and their responses to refusal on the other hand as its research object, this paper aims to examine and systematically reveal the representational and interactional characteristics of such discourse. A naturally occurred corpus of 100 videos with a length of 120.24 minutes is collected and analyzed, on the basis of which the modal representation, modal interaction and multimodal graduation characteristics of Chinese-speaking children’s multimodal refusal-response acts in the early school age are thoroughly analyzed and compared guided by Systemic Functional Grammar and Appraisal Theory. It is found that 62% of the refusal acts are caused by acts of request, and 68% of the children would use multiple modes to implement acts of refusal. Children’s multimodal refusal-response acts has the highest frequency of modal synergy, and some children would have strong emotional reactions after being refused. It is suggested that, children’s multimodal refusal-response acts should be concerned and valued by researchers, educators and children’s parents.},
     year = {2023}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Multimodal Refusal and Response to Refusal of Chinese-Speaking Children: A Comparative Case Study
    AU  - Rongbin Wang
    AU  - Mengyao Zhao
    AU  - Yunqing Qiao
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    DO  - 10.11648/j.ijll.20231103.13
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    JF  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
    JO  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
    SP  - 78
    EP  - 86
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2330-0221
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20231103.13
    AB  - As a complex and dynamic phenomenon, multimodal discourse has gained increasing attention in various fields. One common type of multimodal act among children is multimodal refusal, which involves a communicative act of rejecting an offer, request, or invitation using multimodal semiotic resources such as verbal languages, gestures and body movements, etc. Usually, a refusal is followed by a response to it. The analysis of children’s refusal and their responses to refusal can shed light on the ways in which they manage social relationships and interpersonal dynamics in their interactions. Choosing Chinese-speaking children’s acts of multimodal refusal on one hand and their responses to refusal on the other hand as its research object, this paper aims to examine and systematically reveal the representational and interactional characteristics of such discourse. A naturally occurred corpus of 100 videos with a length of 120.24 minutes is collected and analyzed, on the basis of which the modal representation, modal interaction and multimodal graduation characteristics of Chinese-speaking children’s multimodal refusal-response acts in the early school age are thoroughly analyzed and compared guided by Systemic Functional Grammar and Appraisal Theory. It is found that 62% of the refusal acts are caused by acts of request, and 68% of the children would use multiple modes to implement acts of refusal. Children’s multimodal refusal-response acts has the highest frequency of modal synergy, and some children would have strong emotional reactions after being refused. It is suggested that, children’s multimodal refusal-response acts should be concerned and valued by researchers, educators and children’s parents.
    VL  - 11
    IS  - 3
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • School of Foreign Language, Shanxi University, Taiyuan, China

  • School of Foreign Language, Shanxi University, Taiyuan, China

  • School of Foreign Language, Shanxi University, Taiyuan, China

  • School of Foreign Language, Shanxi University, Taiyuan, China

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