A Cross-cultural Comparative Pragmatic Study Of The Impact Of The Degree Of Familiarity On Apology Strategy

This paper reports a cross-cultural comparative pragmatic study on apology strategies employed by university students of America and China in terms of the impact of the degree of familiarity on apology strategies, discusses the different usage of apology strategy due to the difference of the degree of familiarity through the data acquired, and discovers the underlying difference of culture and value between America and China.The data for the current paper are elicited from a DCT survey with a questionnaire containing six situations covering six relationships in which the interlocutors are of the same social power but different degree of familiarity (ranging from distant to intimate). The questionnaire includes English version and Chinese version.Based on previous cross-cultural study, the paper analyzes the data elicited from the questionnaire from both qualitative and quantitative approach and illustrates apology patterns from perspectives of both strategy usage and situation design.It is found that Chinese and Americans resemble each other with much the same comprehension of the situation, with "1HD" as the most popular strategy in both languages. Differences occur in the preference for apology strategies. Chinese university students exert to preserve social harmony through frequent use of "Explanation or Account", while "Minimizing the Degree of Offence" is applied and favored by American university students to clarify their responsibilities. With the relationship ranging from very distant to very intimate, the strategy pattern becomes more complicated with less usage of "MD" and more usage of "Promise of Forbearance" in both languages, and Chinese is more characterized with this feature. It is concluded that Chinese university students, under the high-context culture, applause the so-called collectivism, attach importance to social harmony and tend to apologize indirectly. However, American university students, under the low-context culture, put emphasis on individualism and self-responsibility, have preference for direct apology, and are less influenced by the degree of familiarity.The thesis hopes to evoke attention to pragmatic rules and promote studies on linguistic and cultural differences in specific contexts, so as to achieve successful cross-cultural communication and facilitate foreign language teaching.