How displeasure is expressed by juniors to seniors in the workplace: American and Vietnamese crosscultural pragmatic research.

Abstract

.Displeasure is a negative emotional state that arises from mild anger, dissatisfaction when a person experiences undesired speech, behavior, or activities from others during communication. Based on that observation, this study was conducted from a cross-cultural pragmatic perspective to investigate how to verbally show displeasure at workplace in American and Vietnamese cultures. The study narrows down on the ways in which the expressions of displeasure are manifested by the 10 informants from American and Vietnamese cultures each in response to an inaccurate statement about their work achievements. The data showed that, fundamentally, employees from the two cultures have different verbal behaviors against such an inaccurate comment from their superiors due to their politeness principles.