The Pragmatics of Refusal Strategies in Nigerian English: A Gender-Based Analysis

This study examines refusal strategies in Nigerian English from a gender-based perspective, investigating how male and female speakers construct and deliver refusals in social and professional interactions. Pragmatic competence in refusal behaviour is a socially sensitive domain shaped by cultural norms, power relations, and gender ideologies, and Nigerian English refusal strategies have not been extensively studied in recent years. The research adopts a discourse completion task methodology, supplemented by naturalistic role-play data, within the theoretical framework of interlanguage pragmatics. A sample of 120 participants, 60 male and 60 female, drawn from three universities in the South West and South East zones completed written discourse completion scenarios covering superior-subordinate, peer, and intimate refusal contexts. The data were coded using a refusal speech act taxonomy adapted for the Nigerian context. Findings reveal that female participants employ significantly more indirect and hedged refusal strategies than male participants across all three social contexts, a pattern attributed to Yoruba and Igbo cultural norms of feminine deference and face concern. Male participants show greater willingness to use direct refusal forms in professional settings. The study concludes that gender is a significant predictor of refusal strategy selection in Nigerian English and recommends gender-sensitive pragmatics instruction at the university level. Keywords: refusal strategies, Nigerian English, gender, pragmatics, interlanguage pragmatics.