LINGUISTIC MEANS OF INDIRECT REALIZATION OF EXPRESSING AGREEMENT AND DISAGREEMENT IN ENGLISH
Abstract
This study investigates the linguistic means of indirectly expressing agreement and disagreement in English discourse. The research aims to analyze the pragmatic strategies, syntactic structures, and lexical choices that speakers employ to convey concurrence or dissent without explicit markers. The study draws on corpus-based data and authentic conversational interactions to identify patterns of indirect speech acts. Findings reveal that English speakers frequently utilize hedges, modal verbs, euphemisms, tag questions, and context-dependent implicatures to moderate face-threatening acts while maintaining politeness and social harmony. The research underscores the interplay between language, pragmatics, and sociocultural norms, highlighting how indirectness serves as a key tool for mitigating potential interpersonal conflict. Implications extend to applied linguistics, intercultural communication, and language teaching, providing insights into enhancing pragmatic competence and understanding nuanced conversational strategies in English.
References
1. Searle, J. R. (1969). Speech Acts. London: Routledge.
2. Brown, P., & Levinson, S. C. (1987). Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
3. Fraser, B. (1990). Perspectives on Politeness. Journal of Pragmatics, 14(2), 219–236.
4. Holmes, J. (1995). Women, Men and Politeness. London: Longman.
5. Lakoff, R. (1973). The Logic of Politeness; or, Minding Your P’s and Q’s. Papers from the 9th Regional Meeting, Chicago Linguistic Society, 292–305.
6. Leech, G. (1983). Principles of Pragmatics. London: Longman.
7. Thomas, J. (1995). Meaning in Interaction: An Introduction to Pragmatics. London: Routledge Academic.
8. Yule, G. (1996). Pragmatics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
9. Coulmas, F. (2005). Sociolinguistics: The Study of Speakers’ Choices. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
10. Kasper, G., & Schmidt, R. (1996). Developmental Issues in Interlanguage Pragmatics. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 18(2), 149–169.




















