A Case Study Of Chinese Apology Expressions Dui Bu Qi And Bu Hao Yi Si In Terms Of Use Distribution In College Students And Influencing Factors

Speech act of apologizing is one of the main focuses in linguistics. However, to date, most studies on speech acts of apologizing take place in western countries. The interests in Chinese apologies are on the rise these years, but they are mainly concerned with cross-cultural comparison and acquisition of apology strategies. And there are few studies conducted under pure Chinese context and even fewer ones have been done to investigate Chinese apology expressions dui bu qi and bu hao yi si.The present case study takes place in Zhejiang University, examining the two expressions in terms of frequency of use among students in this university and the influencing factors of the use. It aims to find out whether use differences between dui bu qi and bu hao yi si exist, and whether factors like gender, social distance, social status, severity of offence and people’s evaluation of face have impact on people’s choice between the two items.Questionnaire and interview are employed to collect data in this study. The questionnaire is composed of two parts:first, a Multiple Choice Questionnaire including15situations which can be commonly seen in daily life; second, a Situation Assessment Questionnaire.180Chinese college students (90males and90females) are invited to answer the questionnaires, and6students (3males and3females) from the subject pool of questionnaire are invited to participate in the interview immediately after they have finished the questionnaires. Data obtained are analyzed quantitatively by employing SPSS16.0and qualitatively as well.Results from the present case study indicate that in daily life, frequency of use of bu hao yi si prevails over that of dui bu qi, which coincides with the observation of Min Yi. Investigation into influencing factors shows that gender has no impact on people’s choices between the two apology expressions; social distance often exerts an influence when interacting with other factors; social status and the severity of offence influence people’s choice significantly and greatly. This paper also has a try to probe into the social and cultural reasons behind the results. There are also some interesting and instructive findings from the study. For example, it is claimed that the fact bu hao yi si has four Chinese characters may also lead people to use more bu hao yi si because of its higher rhythm sensation; also, some people, especially teenagers and young people, may think it very cool to use bu hao yi si, because bu hao yi si is a main apology expression used by Cantonese, whose films and teleplays are popular all over the whole country; in addition, it is held that speakers’evaluation of hearers’ perception and acceptance of dui bu qi and bu hao yi si may also have an influence on the choice.The present study aims to contribute the existing literature on the speech acts of apologizing by examining Chinese apology expressions dui bu qi and bu hao yi si. At the same time, it is hoped that more attention will be drawn to language phenomena in Chinese context.