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Internal Modification of Apology Realization: Cross-cultural Variations

This study aimed to compare the use of apology internal modification patterns between two groups of native speakers (Chinese and English) and EFL learners in the hope to serve as the base for further interlanguage studies. However, rather than following the traditional treatment that focuses largely on intensification of illocutionary indicating devices (IFIDs), this study examined the internal modification of apology under the scope defined by Trosborg (1995) with a proposed functional coding system. Results showed, as predicted by Olshtain (1989), although apology may be a universal act across different cultures in terms of a similar range and preference order of strategies, internal modification varied significantly cross-culturally and seemed to cause problems in learners¡¦ languages. For instance, Chinese speakers tended to use more linguistic devices, both upgraders and downgraders, to mitigate their sense of guilt in situations when English natives chose to adopt more upgrading modality markers to strengthen their apology. Interlanguege speakers of two proficiency levels revealed the same cultural attitude, but failed to match not only English but also Chinese natives in terms of being articulate and eloquent. However, such results only suggest besides the traditional distinction between upgraders vs. downgraders, the functions of modality markers should also be taken into account. In order to obtain a clearer picture of speech act behavior and to draw valid pedagogical implications, more work has to be done considering speakers¡¦ use of both internal and external pragmalinguistic modifications.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:NSYSU/oai:NSYSU:etd-0722106-151722
Date22 July 2006
CreatorsHo, Po-chin
ContributorsFeng-Fu Tsao, Yuh-huey Lin, Syu-ing Shyu
PublisherNSYSU
Source SetsNSYSU Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Archive
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext
Formatapplication/pdf
Sourcehttp://etd.lib.nsysu.edu.tw/ETD-db/ETD-search/view_etd?URN=etd-0722106-151722
Rightsoff_campus_withheld, Copyright information available at source archive

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