LINGUOPRAGMATIC TRANSFORMATIONS OF INDIRECT REFUSALS IN ENGLISH, RUSSIAN AND UZBEK

Abstract

This article examines indirect refusals as a pragmatic phenomenon in English literary dialogues and considers the ways in which their communicative meanings may be transformed in Russian and Uzbek translations. Particular attention is paid to the relationship between linguistic form and illocutionary force, since a refusal is not necessarily expressed by an explicit negative response. Reasons, apologies, expressions of inability, modal constructions, hesitation, alternatives, topic shifts, rhetorical questions and other indirect devices may perform the communicative function of refusal. The article argues that the translation of indirect refusals requires the preservation not only of propositional meaning but also of pragmatic force, degree of mitigation, interpersonal distance and communicative intention.