Paper 1 Apr 2011-A-Juhana
Paper 1 Apr 2011-A-Juhana
Paper 1 Apr 2011-A-Juhana
INTRODUCTION
To express apology is a common occurrence for people to do since in their social interaction they cannot avoid for doing wrong. Trosborg (1995) mentions many ways to express apology called apology strategies such as by expressing regret, giving explanation, requesting for forgiveness, and offering to repair or replace someones property. The socialization between men and women in term of using apology strategies Holmes (1995) explains that males may give more weight to their function as self-oriented face threatening acts damaging the speakers face and thus, apologizing is avoided where possible. On the other hand females typically use more polite speech acts than males do. Females may perceive apology primarily as other oriented speech acts aimed at facilitating social harmony Bonvillan (1986). The aim of this paper is to investigate the act of apologizing used by males and females students in order to find out whether there are similarities and differences between their usages of apology. The paper tries to know what are the strategies used by males and females students in apology situation and are there any similarities and differences between their usages of apologies.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Speech Acts Speech acts are acts of communication. To communicate is to express a certain attitude, and the type of speech act being performed corresponds to the type of attitude being expressed. For example, a statement expresses a belief, a request expresses a desire, and an apology expresses regret. As an act of communication, a speech act succeeds if the audience identifies, in accordance with the speaker's intention, the attitude being expressed. Speech acts can be defined as the basic unit of communication and
they are part of linguistics competence. Austin (1960) cited in Thomas used the term of speech act refer to an utterances and the total situation in which the utterances is issued. It means that when the utterances are being used, they are not only holding the expressions but also involve certain meaning to function particular action. In line with this, Schmidt and Richards (1980) state that speech acts are all the acts we perform through speaking, all the things we do when we speak and the interpretation and negotiation of speech acts are dependent on the discourse or context. While Yule (1996: 47) says that speech acts is actions performed via utterances and in English are commonly given more specific labels, such as apology, complaint, compliment, invitation, promise or request. According to Austin's theory (1962), what we say has three kinds of meaning namely locutionary, illocutionary, and perlocutionary act (Austin 1962, Huang, 2007). Further they explain that the locutionary act is the basic act of speaking; the literal meaning of what is said for example It's hot in here, this utterance has literal meaning of its hot in here. The illocutionary act refers to the function of the speaker intends to fulfill; the social function of what is said. In other words when we say something, we usually say it with some purpose in mind. It expresses more than the literal meaning of the utterances. For instance, the utterance 'It's hot in here' could be: an indirect request for someone to open the window; an indirect refusal to close the window because someone is cold; or a complaint implying that someone should know better than to keep the windows closed. The perlocutionary act concerns the effect an utterance may have on the addressee; the effect of what is said. Thus, the utterances of Its hot in here' could result in someone opening the windows. Speech Acts of Apologies An apology is a speech act used when the behavioral norm is broken. When an action or utterances has resulted that one or more persons perceives themselves as offended, the guilty person(s) needs to apologize. The speech act of apologizing aims at maintaining, restoring, and enhancing interpersonal relationship. Acording to Olshtain (1983) when an action or utterance result in the fact that one or more persons perceive themselves as offended, the culpable party(s) needs to apologize. Apologizing is polite speech act used to restore social relations following an offence. Searle (1976) further emphasizes that both parties must recognize the offense and the need for repair. Holmes (1995) asserts apology as a speech act directed to the addressees face needs and intended to resolve an offence for which the speaker takes responsibility, and to restore balance between speaker and addressee. Leech (1983:104) cited in Trosborg (1995:373) defined the act of apologizing is a convivial speech act, the goal of which coincides with the social goal of maintaining harmony between speaker and hearer. In addition, Marquez-reiter (2004) declares an apology as a compensatory action for an offense committed by the speaker which has affected the hearer. An apology serves compensatory action to an offence which the guilty person admits guilt to what he has done and asks for the speakers forgiveness. As stated by Searle (1979) cited in Olshtain (1983), a person who apologizes for doing something wrong expresses regret for doing that. The apology act will occur only if the speaker believes that the wrong act has been performed prior to the time of speaking and that the act resulted in an infraction which affected another person who deserves an apology. There are five possible semantic principle appear when the offender really tends to do apology according to Olshtain and Cohen (1983) namely: 1. An expression of an apology. In this principle the speaker uses a number of expression such as a. An expression of regret, e.g. Im sorry b. An offer of apology, e.g. I apologize c. A request for forgiveness, e.g. Pardon me, Excuse me Acknowledgement of responsibility. It is used when the offender recognizes his/her fault and he/she feels responsible for the offence. The recognition level consists of: a. Accepting the blame, e.g. Its my fault The Use of Apologizing Speech Acts Realization by Male and Female Students: A Case study in Post Graduate Program of English Education Department (Juhana)
2.
3.
4. 5.
Expressing self-deficiency, e.g. I was confused, I didnt see you, I was thinking, or Youre right. c. Expressing lack of intention, e.g. I didnt mean to d. Recognizing of deserving apology, e.g. You are right An offer to repair. It is something to do with physical injury or other damage resulting from the speakers infraction, e.g. Ill buy for the lost book, Would you be willing to reschedule the meeting? An explanation or account of the situation. The offence explains the situation that brings about him/her to do an indirect way of apologizing. For instance, There was a terrible traffic jam, The bus was delayed A promise of forbearance. The offender promise not to do the offense again, e.g. It wont happen again.
b.
Womens and Mens Language Theories Gender manifest behavioral differences constructed within society experienced by each person. A common reason that is given as to why apologies are difficult is because an apology causes loss of status. One could argue that the reason women apologize more than men is because evolutionary pressure has made status more important for men, because men need status to compete for mates. Thus, since status matters relatively less for women, they can apologize more. According to Connell (2002) being a man or woman is not a fixed state. They have different behavioral in dealing with things they face. It is because men and women are socialized different (Eckert, 1998). It also occurs in term of their conversational strategies including the speech act of apology. Holmes (1995) identifies several differences between men and women in using apology as follows: 1. 2. 3. 4. Women use significantly more apologies than men do. Women use most apologies for the hearers of equal power, while men apologize to women of different status. Women use most apologies for female friends whereas men use most for socially distance Womens apologies are more often than mens in the case of space and talk offences.
Further he says that women and men differently may use apology since they have different perceptions of when they are appropriate. Women do an apology as being polite while men avoid apologies where it is possible. They will apologize if it will cause offence. The differences between men and women also are explained by Bonvillan (1986) stating that females typically use more polite speech act than males do. According to Fishman (1978) formal features that characterize womans speech such as asking question aims to ensure reaction. In contrast, mens speech is marked by features (e.g. statement) than do little insure to further talk.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Selection of Respondents As it was stated in previous parts of this paper, the aim of the paper is to find out the differences in using apologizing strategies applied by male and female students. The subjects of this paper were 10 male and 10 female post graduate students of English education of Indonesia University of Education. The data gained from those subjects were used to find similarities and differences between them. Discourse Completion Test (DCT) The Discourse Completion Test (DCT) was taken from Tuncel (1999) cited in Istifci (2009) and it had been adapted from other DCTs used in literature Cohen and Olshtain (1983) (Istifci, ibid). This test describes several different situations for each number
containing scripted dialogues. The respondents were asked to express their oral utterance or response from each the situation given. The test in this paper consists of 6 situations taken from Cohen and Olshtain and from Tuncel. Data Collection procedures and the Instruments The Discourse Completion Test (DCT) used as instruments were applied to the respondents and they were instructed to write the utterance they would say regarding the situation given on the test. To analyze the data, all responses were categorized according to Cohen and Olshtain (1983) apology speech act set which categorized in 5 main categories as follows: An expression of apology (Illocutionary Force Indicating Device IFID) a. an expression of regret (e.g. Im sorry) b. an offer of apology (e.g. I apologize) c. a request for forgiveness (e.g. Excuse me, Forgive me) 2) An offer of repair/redress (REPR) (e.g. Ill pay for your damage) 3) An explanation of an account (EXPL) (e.g. My daughter was ill, I took her to hospital) 4) Acknowledging responsibility for the offense (RESP) (e.g. Its my fault) 5) A promise of forbearance (FORB) (e.g. Ill never forget it again). Tuncel (cited in Istifci) added some other categories in to the list because he states that the lists do not cover all the responses of his subjects in his research such as: 6) Deny (denial of fault or offense) (e.g. I did not cause the accident. You parked your car on my way) 7) Blame (putting blame on the hearer) (e.g. Why didnt you remind me?) 8) Health (asking the state of health) (e.g. Are you all right? I can take you to hospital) 9) Exclamation (EXL!) (expressing surprise) (e.g. Oh!, Oops!) 10) Request (e.g. can I use it for two days?) The responses of 20 subjects were counted and categorized according to the above criteria in the coding tables for each situation. The frequency and percentage of the situation were calculated. In some situation, there were some combinations such as IFID+EXPL, REPR+EXPL. 1)
The Use of Apologizing Speech Acts Realization by Male and Female Students: A Case study in Post Graduate Program of English Education Department (Juhana)
Situation 1 was about being late. The table 1 above reveals that the most common category used by both males and female is IFID + EXPL (e.g. Im sorry, I got a traffic jam; I apologize, the street was crowded). These categories were used by 60% of males and 50% of females. The second place was occupied by IFID + EXPL + REQUEST (e.g. Im sorry for being late, I had a traffic jam, may I come in?) used by 20% from both of them. Both genders also used the IFID + REQUEST (e.g. Excuse me sir, may I come in?) accounted 10% for each. Other categories used by them were IFID + EXPL + IFID (e.g. Excuse me sir, I got a traffic jam, Im really sorry) and RESP + IFID + REQUEST (e.g. Sir, I know that Im late and Im truly sorry for that but can you give me one more chance?) used by 10% of female. Only 10% of males used single IFID (e.g. Im sorry sir) category only without giving explanation. Table 2. Frequency of the use of apologizing categories by males and females in situation 2
Categories REPR IFID + EXPL IFID + REPR IFID + EXPL + REPR EXL! + IFID + EXPL + REPR EXL! + EXPL + REPR TOTAL Males N 1 1 2 4 1 1 10 % 10 10 20 40 10 10 100 Females N % 0 0 4 40 3 30 2 20 1 10 0 0 10 100
Situation 2 was about losing friends CD. Table 2 demonstrates that males used REPR more than females. It can be seen from the table that 40% males employed IFID + EXPL + REPR (e.g. I really apologize. I have lost your CD, I meant to return it, but it was lost. But dont worry Ill buy another one) while females only employed 20%. Though for IFID + REPR categories (e.g. Im really sorry, I lost you CD. Ill buy a new one for you) females employed more than men that is 30% but the different is not far that males employed 20%. Single REPR (e.g. I lost your CD, Ill buy another one) was only employed by males (10%) while none of females used these categories. In employing IFID + EXPL (e.g. Sorry, I forget where I put your CD) they had different categories, it was mostly used by females (40%) while males only 10%. The percentage of EXL! + IFID + EXPL + REPR (e.g. Oh buddy, Im so sorry. Ive lost your CD. Ill try to buy a new one) was same for both genders that was 10% for each. The rest, EXL! + EXPL + REPR category (e.g. Gosh, I lost the CD, I cant find it. Ill try to buy it for you later on) was employed by 10% males while no female employed it. Table 3. Frequency of the use of apologizing categories by males and females in situation 3
Categories IFID IFID + EXPL IFID + REPR IFID + RESP IFID + EXPL + REPR EXL! + QUESTIONING QUESTIONING + REPR EXL! + IFID EXL! + IFID+ REPR EXL! + IFID + EXPL EXL! + IFID + QUESTIONING TOTAL Males N 1 2 0 1 1 1 1 2 0 1 0 10 % 10 20 0 10 10 10 10 20 0 10 0 100 Females N % 0 0 2 20 1 10 0 0 1 10 0 0 0 0 1 10 1 10 3 30 1 10 10 100
Situation 3 was about breaking friends ceramics. As table 3 shows, both males and females employed a wide variety of categories. In term of single IFID only one male used Ragam Jurnal Pengembangan Humaniora Vol. 11 No. 1, April 2011
it (10%). The combinations of IFID were used by all respondents. The percentage of the use of IFID + EXPL (e.g. Im sorry for this accident, I didnt mean it) was same for both genders (20%). IFID + REPR (e.g. Im really sorry, Ill buy a new one) was only employed by females (10%) and IFID + RESP (e.g. Im very sorry, what a careless man I am) was only employed by males (10%). The same percentage gained by both genders also occurred in IFID + EXPL + REPR category (e.g. Im really sorry for breaking it. I didnt mean to break it. Let me pay for it) that was 10% for each. The combinations of EXL! were mostly used by both males and females regarded this situation. EXL! + QUESTIONING (e.g. Oh no, what should I do?) was used by 10% of males, EXL! + IFID (e.g. Oops! Forgive me for breaking that) was employed by both males (20%) and females (10%), EXL! + IFID+ REPR (e.g. Oh my God! Sorry, I will buy the new one) was used by 10% of females, and EXL! + IFID + EXPL (e.g. Ups! Im sorry, I didnt do it on purpose) was used by males (10%) and females (30%). The use of QUESTIONING was also employed by both of males and females. EXL! + QUESTIONING (e.g. Oh no, what should I do?) and QUESTIONING + REPR (e.g. Is it expensive enough? I am thinking to pay it) were used by 10% of males and EXL! + IFID + QUESTIONING category (e.g. Oh my God, Im sorry Do you want me to buy a new one? ) was used by 10% of females. Table 4. Frequency of the use of apologizing categories by males and females in situation 4
Categories IFID IFID + EXPL IFID + REPR IFID + RESP IFID + RESP+ REPR EXL! + IFID EXL! + IFID + REPR EXL! + IFID+ EXPL EXL! + IFID + RESP TOTAL Males N 2 0 0 1 1 2 0 2 2 10 % 20 0 0 10 10 20 0 20 20 100 Females N % 3 30 1 10 1 10 1 10 0 0 0 0 4 40 0 0 0 0 10 100
Situation 4 was about spilling over the soup toward an elderly ladys blouse. Table 4 reveals that Single IFID category was only used by 20% of males and 30% of females. The combinations of IFID were higher in both males and females. The use of IFID + EXPL (e.g. Sorry, the floor is slippery) and IFID + REPR (e.g. Im sorry maam. Ill take tissues for cleaning it) were only used by females 10% for each. IFID + RESP (e.g. Im sorry. This is my fault) was used by both genders with the same percentages (10%) for each. While IFID + RESP+ REPR (e.g. Sorry miss. Its my mistake. Ill clean it up) (10%) and EXL! + IFID (e.g. Ups! Sorry madam) (20%) were only used by males. The using of EXL! by both genders was also higher. EXL! + IFID + REPR (e.g Gosh, Im sorry. Let me help you to clean your blouse) was used by 10% of males, whereas 40% of females employed this category. And the categories such as EXL! + IFID+ EXPL (e.g. Oh, Im so sorry mam. I stumbled. I didnt do it on purpose) and EXL! + IFID + RESP (e.g. Oh, Im really sorry for this mam. Its my fault), were used by males accounted for 20% of each.
The Use of Apologizing Speech Acts Realization by Male and Female Students: A Case study in Post Graduate Program of English Education Department (Juhana)
Table 5. Frequency of the use of apologizing categories by males and females in situation 5
Categories IFID + EXPL IFID + BLAME IFID + EXPL + REQUEST EXPL + IFID EXL! + IFID+ EXPL TOTAL Males N 6 1 1 0 2 10 % 60 10 10 0 20 100 Females N % 6 60 0 0 0 0 1 10 3 30 10 100
Situation 5 was about personal insult. Table 5 explains that all respondents used IFID and its combination regarded this situation. IFID and EXPL (e.g Sorry, I didnt mean to be like that. Its misunderstanding) preference was higher used by males (60%) and females (60%). Categories of IFID + BLAME (e.g. Sorry, oh come on. Dont be too sentimental) and IFID + EXPL + REQUEST (e.g. Forgive me for what I have done. I didnt mean to insult you. Please dont get me wrong) were used individually by males (10%) while EXPL + IFID (e.g. Well, I didnt mean to make you offended. Im sorry then) was only used by 10% of female. The combination of EXL! was used by both genders namely EXL! + IFID+ EXPL (e.g. Really? Sorry if you feel so. I didnt mean to) used by 20% of males and 30% of females. Table 6. Frequency of the use of apologizing categories by males and females in situation 6
Categories IFID IFID + EXPL IFID + REPR EXL! + IFID EXL! + IFID + EXPL EXL! + IFID + EXPL + IFID TOTAL Males N 3 6 1 0 0 0 10 % 30 60 10 0 0 0 100 Females N % 2 20 1 10 0 0 2 20 4 40 1 10 10 100
Situation 6 was about stepping out on someones foot. As tables 6 reveals that just like situation 5, all respondents used IFID categories for this situation. The use of single IFID was employed by both males (30%) and females (20%). The IFID + EXPL (e.g. I do apologize Sir, I didnt mean to. Im in a hurry) category was mostly used by males (60%) and only 10% was used by females. The combinations of EXL! were only used by females such as EXL! + IFID (e.g. Oh my God. Im sorry Sir) accounted for 20%, EXL! + IFID + EXPL (e.g. Oh, excuse me Sir, It was an accident. Im in a hurry) (40%) and EXL! + IFID + EXPL + IFID (e.g. Oh my God! I do really apologize for this Sir. Im in rush to the class. Sorry Sir) (10%).
DISCUSSION
The aim of this paper is to know the use of categories of males and females post graduate students of English education in situations which require apologies. The discussion focuses on the most frequently used categories. The data reveals that many similarities of apology categories used by males and females in expressing their apology. Generally both males and females mostly used IFID + EXPL in all situations. In situation #1, #2, #3, #5, and #6 both gender used IFID + EXPL categories with high percentage. The data shows that in situation #1, #5, and #6 both gender almost had high similar percentage for the use of IFID + EXPL categories. Though there was a little different category used by female in situation #6 that they used EXL! (Exclamation, expressing surprise) category before followed by IFID + EXPL. It might happen because females are more expressive than males e.g. Oh, Im sorry Sir, Im in rush. But generally
they had similar tendency in using IFID + EXPL categories in those situations. Both gender used the categories in order to lessen their guilty of the offence so they mostly used explanation to tell the situation they faced at the time. In term of the usage of single IFID category, both gender also used it in situations #1, #3, #4, and #6. As Owen (1983; cited in Suszczynska 1999;1059) IFIDs are the categories which are the most conventionalized and routinized, being as it were in the center of the speech act category of apologizing and representing verbal routines. The next category mostly used by both gender was REPR (an offer of repair or compensation for the damage) occurred in situations #2, #3, #4, and #6 combined with other categories such as; IFID + REPR, IFID + EXPL + REPR, EXL! + IFID + EXPL + REPR, EXL! + EXPL + REPR, QUESTIONING + REPR, and EXL! + IFID + REPR. Though in general they had similar tendency in using the REPR category, but the appearance was not the same frequency in each of the situation. For instance, in situation #2 males used the category more than females. It is line with what Holmes (1995) states regarded to situation #2 describing about losing friends Compact Disc that males were concerned by inconvenience which cost another person money, and offences which result in damaging anothers possession. Thus, males preferred to use REPR category as a form of responsibility to pay the damage e.g. I really apologize. I have lost your CD, I meant to return it, but it was lost. But dont worry Ill buy another one. It is contrast with situation #4 describing about spilling over the soup toward an elderly ladys blouse in which females used REPR more frequent than males. Females response regarded this situation was that they mostly used REPR (an offer of repair or compensation for the damage) e.g. Oh, Im so sorry.let me help you to clean it up. On contrary, males mostly employed RESP (acknowledging responsibility for the offense) category for this situation combined with other categories such as EXL! + IFID + RESP e.g. Oh, Im really sorry for this, mam. Its an accident and its my fault. But it is understandable since the addressee was a lady. Males would feel less convenience to give an offer to clean her blouse. It can be noted that in a certain situation social variable can influence the usage of apologizing strategies employed by respondents like in situation #4. Yet, from the responses above the REPR category was used by both genders as a remedial support (Trosborg 1995). They considered a spoken apology was not sufficient to re-establish their social relationship with the hearer. In terms of the usage of other categories such as REQUEST (asking for something politely), FORB (promising for not repeating the action again), QUESTIONING (asking a question), and BLAME (putting the blame on other person) were used variously by both gender. For REQUEST category combined with IFID or EXPL was used by males and females with the same percentage in situation #1. While FORB category was only used by a male in situation #5. For QUESTIONING category it was used by both genders in situation #3. It is interesting to find that a male used BLAME category in situation #5 regarding the situation about personal insult. While other persons from both genders mostly used IFID + EXPL in order to avoid misunderstanding, he used BLAME category rather than EXPL or the other categories though it was combined with IFID category i.e Sorry, oh come on. Dont be too sentimental. Generally, from the data it can be said that there is no significant differences between males and females of postgraduate students of English education in using apologizing strategy. Gender factor does not become strong factor that influences the realization of apologizing speech act. It is proven by the facts that both genders employed many similar categories and there was no highly different tendency between them to express their apologizing speech acts.
CONCLUSION
Based on the data, the paper comes to the following conclusions:
The Use of Apologizing Speech Acts Realization by Male and Female Students: A Case study in Post Graduate Program of English Education Department (Juhana)
(1) Generally both males and females mostly used IFID + EXPL (giving explanation, cause, or reason) categories in all situations. Both genders used the categories in order to lessen their guilty of the offence so that they mostly used explanation to tell the situation they faced at the time. (2) For some extents, females tended to use EXL! (expressing surprise). It might happen because females are more expressive than males. (3) Both genders also mostly used REPR (an offer of repair or compensation for the damage) in some situations. This category was used by both genders as a remedial support (Trosborg 1995). They considered a spoken apology was not sufficient to reestablish their social relationship with the hearer. (4) The result of this paper shows that in many situations both genders have similarity in using apologizing strategies. They employed most similar categories in term of certain situations.
REFERENCES
Austin, J. L. (1962). How to Do Things with words. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Connell, R.W. (2002). Gender. USA: Blackwell Publishing. Eckert, P. and MCConnell-Ginet, S. (1998). Communities of Practice: Where Language, Gender, and Power All Live, in Coates, J. ed. Language and Gender: A Reader, Oxford: Blackwell. Fishman, Pamela M. (1978). Interaction: The Work Women Do. Rowley: Social Problems. Newbury House. Grundy, P. (2008). Doing Pragmatics. Third Edition. London: Hodder Education. Huang, Y. (2007). Pragmatics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Holmes, J. (1995). Women, Men, and Politeness. London: Longman. Istifci, I. (2009). The Use of Apologies by EFL Learners. Journal of English Language Teaching. 2. 15 25. Levinson, S.D. (1983). Pragmatics. Cambrigde:CUP. Marquez-Reiter, R. (2000). Linguistics of Learning and Using a Nonnative Language. Oxford: Pergamon Press. Olshtain, E. and Cohen, A.D. (1981). Developing a Measure of Sociocultural Competence: The Case of apology. Journal of Language Learning. 31, 113 114. Olshtain, E. (1983). Sociocultural Competence and Language Transfer : The Case of Apology. In Gass, S.L. Selinker (Eds). Language Transfer in Language Learning. Rowley: Newbury House Publishers. Olshtain, E. and Cohen, A.D. (1983). Apology: A Speech-Act Set. In N. Wolfson & E. Judd (Eds). Sociolinguistics and Language Acquisition. Rowley, MA : Newbury House Publishers. Richards, J. and Schmidt, R. (1980). Language and Communication. London: Longman. Searle, J.R. (1976). The Classification of Illocutionary Acts. Language in Society, 5 (1). 1- 24. Suszczynska, M. (1999). Apologizing in English, Polish, and Hungarian: Different Language, Different Strategies. Journal of Pragmatics. 31. 1053 1065. Thomas, J. (1995). Meaning in Interaction. London: Longman. Trosborg, A. (1995). Interlanguage Pragmatics: Request, Complaints, and Apologies. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Yule, G. (1996). Pragmatics. Oxford: OUP
10
The Use of Apologizing Speech Acts Realization by Male and Female Students: A Case study in Post Graduate Program of English Education Department (Juhana)