An Exploratory Study of Situational Effects on the Use of Apology Strategies

Abstract

Research findings in various first-language studies and cross-cultural studies have revealed that while the speech act of apology is universal, politeness values and types of linguistic forms vary across languages and cultures. While a bulk of studies has been done to examine the cross-cultural differences in the use of apology strategies, how the nature of an offence affects the selection of apology strategies has attracted less attention from researchers. The present study examines whether the use of certain apology strategies is context-specific. A total of 660 students participating in the study. The analysis involves comparison of the means for use of a strategy in each situation and the distribution of strategies across situations. The analysis of the distribution of each strategy revealed that the use of the strategies varied across situations.