| Apology is a kind of speech act as well as a social practice that is closely linked to culture and ideology.This research,combining Fairclough's(2001)“dialectical relationship” analysis framework with Leech's(1983)Politeness Principles and Brown and Levinson's(1987)Face Theory and apology strategies of Benoit,Kampf and others,explores the language use of 69 public figures' apologies as an effort to reveal the ideology behind.The structural analysis of the relationship between public figures and the public reveals that the practice of apology is not a two-way communication process but one in which public figures are in a dominant position and the public in the marginalized status.The analytical result of genre chain shows that the apology texts reflect the public figures' and the medias' powerful position to guide the public's opinion.The inter-discursive analysis demonstrates that a variety of genres participate in and interact with each other to jointly construct a complete picture of the public figures' apology process;language has been selectively used to construct apology discourses that will put public figures in an advantageous position;the structures of the apology discourses do not exhibit any tendency to communicate with the public or any features of sincere apologies.Linguistic and semiotic analysis discloses that strategies are manipulatively used by the public figures to gain discourse power and control the public's ideology.This research carries significant meanings.Practically,it helps enhance the public's critical language awareness.Theoretically,it offers readers a way to understand the ideology and power relations behind apology discourse and contributes to the research of language use in public figure's apologies. |
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