Abstract:
The aim of this research is to examin the act of disagreeing in Thai by speakers of different social status in two situation - - when a third-party is present and when there is no third-party. The act of disagreeing in the present study includes correcting and showing disagreement to the hearer. The 200 respondents consist of 100 teachers (higher status group) and 100 students (lower status group) from various schools and colledges in Bangkok area. The findings indicate that speakers of the two groups adopt both direct and indirect strategies of disagreeing. In the case of correcting, the speakers of higher status adopt 20 strategies including 3 on-record and 17 off-record. The speakers of lower status, on the other hand, use only 12 strategies including 2 on-record and 10 off-record. In the case of showing disagreeing to the hearer, the higher status group adopt 17 strategies. Only 3 of 17 are on-record. On the other hand, the group of the lower status prefers to be more direct. It is found that 5 of 16 strategies adopted by the lower-status group are on-record. Based on the findings, it is concluded that the social status of the speaker and the hearer is a crucial factor for the speaker in deciding whether or not to perform the act of disagreeing and in selecting the way to do it. In addition, whether or not a third-party is present is also a concern. It appears that when there is a third-party, the number of those who decide not to perform the act increases, especially in the group of the lower status. Nonetheless, the presence of a third-party seems to have no influence on selecting the way to perform the act for those who choose to do it