Russian and Italian Discourse Formulae of Refusal: Structure and Usage

Abstract

Discourse formulae, non-compositional multiword linguistic expressions, function as responses to the interlocutor's speech acts. This study, inspired by recent developments in Russian language research, seeks to identify Italian discourse formulae of refusal. Our investigation consists of three main phases. First, we conducted a discourse completion task using Google Forms, involving 64 Italian native speakers, to elicit Italian discourse formulae of refusal. This initial phase yielded 20 distinct Italian discourse formulae of refusal. In the second phase, a corpus analysis was carried out to broaden our understanding of the contexts in which these constructions are used. For the third phase, we administered a questionnaire to 14 Russian native speakers proficient in Italian. This phase aimed to find Russian equivalents to the Italian discourse formulae of refusal discovered in the first questionnaire. To achieve this, we employed a discourse completion task and a multiple-choice task. The culmination of these efforts will be a proposal for the integration of Italian translations into the Pragmaticon, an online database of Russian discourse formulae. This integration will contribute valuable insights into the cross-linguistic similarities and differences in the structure and usage of discourse formulae.