The pragmatic structure of refusal

Abstract This paper sets out to unpack the pragmatic structure of refusal—its illocutionary nature, success conditions, and normative effects. I argue that our ordinary concept refusal captures a whole family illocutions, comprising acts such as rejecting, declining, like, which share property being ‘negative second-turn illocutions’. Only proper refusals (i.e. negative replies permission requests), submit, require speaker authority. construe ‘refusal family’ subclass directives-commissives intersection. After defending my view against number potential objections, highlight how theoretically grounded analysis is not only intrinsic value, but may also have significant moral legal implications.