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A Pragmatic Study of Apologies Posted on Weibo by Chinese Celebrities

Received: 27 February 2020     Accepted: 10 March 2020     Published: 31 March 2020
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Abstract

As we are living in the “Age of Apology” (Brooks, 1999), our ability to say “I’m sorry” does matter considerably, for an appropriate apology would not only express regret but also contribute to interpersonal relationship management and image restoration. Although apology as a social phenomenon has been extensively studied in the English-speaking world, Chinese apologies have not drawn due attention from linguists and management scientists. This paper investigates formal apologies made by Chinese celebrities between 2018 and 2019 in the context of social media by scrutinizing 30 cases collected from Weibo, a Chinese micro-blogging site. Based on Cross-Cultural Speech Act Realization Patterns (CCSARP) and image repair strategies, it is found that (1) IFID (Illocutionary Force Indicating Device) is the most common strategy in apologies, followed by Explanation or Account, whereas Offer of Repair is the least; (2) In terms of image restoration, Chinese celebrities tend to employ Reduce Offensiveness and Mortification to offset negative impressions; (3) Being shamed or being embarrassed (“羞愧”) and self-examination (“反省”) are specific IFID types in Chinese, and some mitigation strategies distinct from those in other languages are found. The research has revealed the specific features of Chinese apologies on social media and will shed light on ways of image management for the ordinary Chinese in general and Chinese celebrities in particular.

Published in International Journal of Literature and Arts (Volume 8, Issue 2)

This article belongs to the Special Issue Humanity and Science: China’s Intercultural Communication with the Outside World in the New Era

DOI 10.11648/j.ijla.20200802.14
Page(s) 52-61
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Apologies, Image Repair, Weibo, Celebrities

References
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[3] Yang, W. X. (2017). A Study of the Image Restoration Discourse on Micro-blog Apologies Posted by Entertainment Celebrities. Fujian Normal University, China.
[4] Cui, P. K (2014). Study in Government Weibo Utterances from the Speech Act Theoretic Perspective. East China Normal University, China.
[5] Hu, L. B. C. (2015). Study of governmental “Micro-apology” in crisis communication strategy. Journal of the Party School of Guizhou Provincial Committee of the C. P. C, 4, 101-104.
[6] Olshtain, E. and Cohen, A. (1983). Apology: a speech act set. Sociolinguistics and Language Acquisition. Rowley: Newbury House.
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[17] Zhang, A. L. (2018). A Review on the Study of Apology Expressions at Home and Abroad. Overseas Chinese Education, 5, 131-137.
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[20] Leech, G. N. (1983). Principles of Pragmatics. London: Longman.
[21] Goffman, E. (1959). The Presentation of the Self in Everyday Life. New York: Anchor Books.
[22] Brown, P., and Levinson, S. (1987). Politeness: Some Universals in Language Use. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[23] Wang, M. (2010). A Survey of Apology Studies Abroad. Journal of University of Science and Technology Beijing (Social Sciences Edition), 2, 107-112.
[24] Demeter, G. (2000). A Pragmatic Study of Apology Strategies in Romanian, North University of Baia Mare, Romania.
[25] Benoit, W. L. (1997). Hugh Grant’s image restoration discourse: An actor apologizes. Communication Quarterly, 45, 251–267.
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Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Xu Zhanghong, Li Yanan. (2020). A Pragmatic Study of Apologies Posted on Weibo by Chinese Celebrities. International Journal of Literature and Arts, 8(2), 52-61. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20200802.14

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    ACS Style

    Xu Zhanghong; Li Yanan. A Pragmatic Study of Apologies Posted on Weibo by Chinese Celebrities. Int. J. Lit. Arts 2020, 8(2), 52-61. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20200802.14

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    AMA Style

    Xu Zhanghong, Li Yanan. A Pragmatic Study of Apologies Posted on Weibo by Chinese Celebrities. Int J Lit Arts. 2020;8(2):52-61. doi: 10.11648/j.ijla.20200802.14

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijla.20200802.14,
      author = {Xu Zhanghong and Li Yanan},
      title = {A Pragmatic Study of Apologies Posted on Weibo by Chinese Celebrities},
      journal = {International Journal of Literature and Arts},
      volume = {8},
      number = {2},
      pages = {52-61},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijla.20200802.14},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20200802.14},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijla.20200802.14},
      abstract = {As we are living in the “Age of Apology” (Brooks, 1999), our ability to say “I’m sorry” does matter considerably, for an appropriate apology would not only express regret but also contribute to interpersonal relationship management and image restoration. Although apology as a social phenomenon has been extensively studied in the English-speaking world, Chinese apologies have not drawn due attention from linguists and management scientists. This paper investigates formal apologies made by Chinese celebrities between 2018 and 2019 in the context of social media by scrutinizing 30 cases collected from Weibo, a Chinese micro-blogging site. Based on Cross-Cultural Speech Act Realization Patterns (CCSARP) and image repair strategies, it is found that (1) IFID (Illocutionary Force Indicating Device) is the most common strategy in apologies, followed by Explanation or Account, whereas Offer of Repair is the least; (2) In terms of image restoration, Chinese celebrities tend to employ Reduce Offensiveness and Mortification to offset negative impressions; (3) Being shamed or being embarrassed (“羞愧”) and self-examination (“反省”) are specific IFID types in Chinese, and some mitigation strategies distinct from those in other languages are found. The research has revealed the specific features of Chinese apologies on social media and will shed light on ways of image management for the ordinary Chinese in general and Chinese celebrities in particular.},
     year = {2020}
    }
    

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    Y1  - 2020/03/31
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    T2  - International Journal of Literature and Arts
    JF  - International Journal of Literature and Arts
    JO  - International Journal of Literature and Arts
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    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2331-057X
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    AB  - As we are living in the “Age of Apology” (Brooks, 1999), our ability to say “I’m sorry” does matter considerably, for an appropriate apology would not only express regret but also contribute to interpersonal relationship management and image restoration. Although apology as a social phenomenon has been extensively studied in the English-speaking world, Chinese apologies have not drawn due attention from linguists and management scientists. This paper investigates formal apologies made by Chinese celebrities between 2018 and 2019 in the context of social media by scrutinizing 30 cases collected from Weibo, a Chinese micro-blogging site. Based on Cross-Cultural Speech Act Realization Patterns (CCSARP) and image repair strategies, it is found that (1) IFID (Illocutionary Force Indicating Device) is the most common strategy in apologies, followed by Explanation or Account, whereas Offer of Repair is the least; (2) In terms of image restoration, Chinese celebrities tend to employ Reduce Offensiveness and Mortification to offset negative impressions; (3) Being shamed or being embarrassed (“羞愧”) and self-examination (“反省”) are specific IFID types in Chinese, and some mitigation strategies distinct from those in other languages are found. The research has revealed the specific features of Chinese apologies on social media and will shed light on ways of image management for the ordinary Chinese in general and Chinese celebrities in particular.
    VL  - 8
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Author Information
  • School of English for International Business, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Guangzhou, China

  • School of English for International Business, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Guangzhou, China

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