A Comparative Study On Interpersonal Meanings In Chinese And American Corporate Apology Statements From The Perspective Of Appraisal

With the continuous development of network media,the spread of information becomes quicker and more transparent.Thus any crisis of an enterprise can arouse widespread public attention.Whether the enterprise crisis management is appropriate or not is closely related to the enterprise’s image and even its destiny.As one of the important means to deal with the crisis of an enterprise,corporate apology statements(CAS)can show the attitude of the company,ease the tension of interpersonal relationships between the company and customers,and repair the corporate image and so on.Based on Martin’s Appraisal Theory framework,the author makes a comparative analysis of 30 CAS of Chinese companies and 30 English CAS of American companies from three subsystems: Attitude,Engagement and Graduation,aiming to explore how interpersonal meanings are realized by Appraisal resources in Chinese and American CAS.The following conclusions are drawn through the study:First of all,the distributions of Attitude resources in the apology statements of Chinese and American enterprises are roughly same,but there are subtle differences in the use of Judgement resources.Both Chinese and American enterprises tend to use Affect resources and Judgement resources when they make apologies.Affect resources can help enterprises make the public realize their sincere apologies,and Judgement resources can express the standpoint of enterprises in facing a crisis and reach consensus with the public in cognition.Secondly,in the subsystem Engagement resources,Chinese and American corporates have used a lot of Contraction resources to persuade consumers to accept the view of enterprises in the apology text,which can make enterprises and the public reach an agreement that companies have the good characteristic.Neverthless,sometimes dialogic Expansion plays a crucial role in apologizing.Finally,the use of Force resources can make it easier for consumers to realize the vital role of enterprises in coping with the momentous events.Therefore,in corporate apology statements,both Chinese and American enterprises like to use upscaling words to emphasize the important part and sometimes sharpening words canmagnify their positive attitude.Through the comparative analysis of the apology statements of Chinese and American corporates,this research illustrates the similarities and differences in the distribution of Appraisal resources used by Chinese and American enterprises in writing apology statements,and tries to point out the role of various resources used in conveying interpersonal meaning to provide suggestions for enterprises to deal with the crisis and write the apology statements in the future.