Managing Disagreement while Managing not to Disagree: Polite Disagreement in Negotiation Discourse

Abstract

This paper explores the exercise of politeness by Malays in business negotiations with Japanese. The study looks at how disagreement is realized linguistically. Its linguistic configurations in the form of speech acts and discourse strategies and their underlying politeness strategies are identified and described. The study also reports on how Malay cultural values are reflected in the language use. The implications of the study for negotiation in general and the expression of disagreement in particular are then discussed. The findings are significant for an understanding of disagreement by Malays, particularly when interacting in English. Additionally it provides insights into how Malay cultural values impinge on Malay interaction styles vis-à-vis styles of disagreement. The findings work towards an understanding of how Malay values are manifested in the discourse of disagreement in oral communication.