Apology Strategies Employed by the Public Figures in the Open Letters of Chinese and English

Abstract

Abstract. This study investigates the similarities and differences on apology strategies employed by the public figures based on the data analysis of some English and Chinese open letters and makes an explanation in the perspective of intercultural pragmatics to foster the communication skills. IntroductionIn recent years, an apology as a speech act has attract many scholars' attention. It should be noted that most of the research on apology focus on the context of daily life. However, public figures with social status have an important influence on the whole society. Their speech act, making open apologies through the mass media, should cause great concern. This study concentrates on the apology strategies under the circumstance of mass media (that is the open letters of English and Chinese) and explores the similarities and differences on the adoption of apology strategies between English and Chinese to facilitate a more accurate and comprehensive understanding of the apology speech act, which will, in turn, lead to more successful intercultural communication between people. Previous ResearchApologies. An apology is defined as ''a speech act which is intended to provide support for the hearer who was actually or potentially malaffected by a violation'' [1]. When he/she agrees to offer an apology, the speaker expresses his/her willingness to humiliate himself/herself to an extent which, by definition, makes an apology a face-saving act for the hearer and a face threatening act for the speaker.Apologies fall under expressive speech acts, where the speaker attempts to indicate his/her own state or attitude. In order for an apology to have an effect, it should reflect true feelings. A person cannot successfully apologize to another and truly reach him/her unless he or she expresses his or her ture feelings of sorrow and regret what he or she did for the offense. As Gooder and Jacobs [2] indicated, the proper and effective apology acknowledges the fact of wrong doing, takes primary responsibility, conveys sincere sorrow and regret, and promises not to offend the victim again. . . Some of the characteristics of the effective apology are the admission of offense, the implied acknowledgement of responsibility, an expression of regret, and make a promise that injury will not recur in the future.Apology Strategies. The literature suggests that for an apology to be convincing, the offender always adopts one or more strategies to make an apology. Fraser [3], for example, put forward four direct apology strategies, that is stating one's obligation to apologize, announcing the apology, offering to apologize, and requesting acceptance and five indirect apology strategies that is requesting forgiveness, promising forbearance, expressing regret, acknowledging responsibility, and offering redress. Similarly, Olshtain [1] and Olshtain and Cohen [4]distinguished two general apology strategies, that is using an illocutionary force indicating device (IFID), expressing responsibility and three situation-specific apologies strategies...