EXPLICIT APOLOGIES IN ENGLISH AND ROMANIAN. A CONSTRUCTION GRAMMAR ...

285 Pages·2011·0.96 MB·English

EXPLICIT APOLOGIES IN ENGLISH AND
ROMANIAN. A CONSTRUCTION
GRAMMAR APPROACH

By
GUSZTAV DEMETER
Bachelor of Arts in English and
Romanian Languages and Literatures
North University
Baia Mare, Romania
2000

Master of Arts in English
Oklahoma State University
Stillwater, OK
2006

Submitted to the Faculty of the
Graduate College of the
Oklahoma State University
in partial fulfillment of
the requirements for
the Degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
May, 2011
EXPLICIT APOLOGIES IN ENGLISH AND
ROMANIAN. A CONSTRUCTION
GRAMMAR APPROACH

Dissertation Approved:

Dr. Carol L. Moder
Dissertation Adviser
Dr. Rebecca L. Damron

Dr. Gene B. Halleck

Dr. Shelia M. Kennison
Outside Committee Member
Dr. Mark E. Payton
Dean of the Graduate College

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Writing a dissertation is a long and laborious journey, one that I could not have
completed had it not been for the help I received from my advisor, Dr. Carol Lynn
Moder, my committee members, family, friends and colleagues. I am eternally grateful to
Dr. Moder for all the help she has given me while working on this study, but also for her
mentoring throughout my studies at Oklahoma State University. I would also like to
thank the members of my committee, Dr. Rebecca L. Damron, Dr. Gene B. Halleck, and
Dr. Shelia M. Kennison, for their feedback on my drafts. I am also thankful to the faculty
of the English Department at Oklahoma State University for providing me the knowledge
and skills necessary to write this dissertation.
I would also like to thank my parents, Magdalena and Gusztav Demeter, for their
help and support over the years. Last, but not least, I would like to thank my colleagues at
Oklahoma State University, as well as all my friends for their valuable input and support
during my studies.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter Page

1. Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 1
2. Literature Review............................................................................................................ 4
2.1. Previous Approaches to the Study of Apologies ............................................. 4
2.1.1. Data Collection Methods ...................................................................... 6
2.1.1.1. Discourse Completion Tests (DCT)............................................... 7
2.1.1.2. Role-Plays ...................................................................................... 9
2.1.1.3. Field Observation ......................................................................... 10
2.1.1.4. Corpus Analysis ........................................................................... 11
2.1.1.5. Summary ...................................................................................... 13
2.1.2. Categorizing Apologies ...................................................................... 14
2.1.3. Findings of Previous Studies .............................................................. 19
2.1.3.1. Apologies in Spoken Discourse ................................................... 20
2.1.3.2. Apologies in Written Discourse ................................................... 28
2.1.4. Summary ............................................................................................. 30
2.2. Theoretical Framework .................................................................................. 31
2.2.1. Construction Grammar ........................................................................ 33
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2.2.1.1. Defining Construction Grammar ................................................. 34
2.2.1.2. Discourse Level Constructions .................................................... 37
2.2.1.3. Construction Grammar across Languages ................................... 38
2.2.2. Corpus Linguistics .............................................................................. 40
2.2.3. Categorization ..................................................................................... 41
2.2.4. Mental Spaces and Blending ............................................................... 43
2.2.5. Interactional Discourse ....................................................................... 46
2.2.6. Purpose of the Study ........................................................................... 50
3. Method .......................................................................................................................... 52
3.1. The Corpora ................................................................................................... 52
3.1.1. The Romanian Corpora ....................................................................... 53
3.1.2. The English Corpora ........................................................................... 55
3.1.3. Summary of Corpora Used ................................................................. 57
3.2. Data Analysis ................................................................................................. 58
3.2.1. Procedures ........................................................................................... 59
3.2.2. Coding Reliability ............................................................................... 69
3.3. Conventions Used in the Study ...................................................................... 70
3.3.1. The Format of the Examples ............................................................... 70
3.3.2. Citation Convention for the Examples ................................................ 72
4. Apologies in English ..................................................................................................... 73
4.1. Categorization Issues ..................................................................................... 73
4.1.1. IFID vs. Co-constructed Apologies .................................................... 74
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4.1.2. IFID vs. Fictive Apologies .................................................................. 76
4.1.3. IFID vs. Repair Apologies .................................................................. 78
4.1.4. IFID vs. Interruption Apologies .......................................................... 79
4.1.5. IFID vs. other Existing Categories ...................................................... 80
4.1.6. IFID vs. Standalone Apologies ........................................................... 82
4.1.7. Acknowledging Responsibility, Explanation, and Denying
Responsibility ..................................................................................... 83
4.1.8. Summary ............................................................................................. 86
4.2. Apologies in Spoken Discourse ..................................................................... 89
4.2.1. The Responsibility Continuum ........................................................... 89
4.2.1.1. Acknowledging Responsibility .................................................... 90
4.2.1.2. Denying Responsibility .............................................................. 114
4.2.1.3. Providing an Explanation ........................................................... 119
4.2.2. Standalone Apologies ....................................................................... 129
4.2.3. Apologies Functioning at the Discourse Level ................................. 140
4.2.3.1. Repair Apologies ....................................................................... 141
4.2.3.2. Interruption Apologies ............................................................... 149
4.2.4. Co-constructed Apologies ................................................................. 158
4.2.5. Summary ........................................................................................... 165
4.3. Apologies in Written Discourse ................................................................... 166
4.3.1. Apologies in Written Interaction ...................................................... 171
4.3.1.1. Repair Apologies ....................................................................... 171
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4.3.1.2. Acknowledging Responsibility .................................................. 175
4.3.1.3. Summary .................................................................................... 176
4.3.2. Apologies in Fictive Interaction ........................................................ 177
4.3.3. Apologies in Quoted Interaction ....................................................... 180
4.3.3.1. The Responsibility Continuum .................................................. 180
4.3.3.2. Standalone Apologies ................................................................ 186
4.3.4. Summary ........................................................................................... 188
4.4. Conclusions .................................................................................................. 190
5. Apologies in Romanian............................................................................................... 193
5.1. Apologies in Spoken Discourse ................................................................... 196
5.1.1. The Responsibility Continuum ......................................................... 196
5.1.2. Interruption Apologies ...................................................................... 203
5.1.3. Repair Apologies .............................................................................. 207
5.1.4. Standalone Apologies ....................................................................... 209
5.1.5. Summary ........................................................................................... 211
5.2. Apologies in Written Discourse ................................................................... 212
5.2.1. Apologies in Written Interaction ...................................................... 215
5.2.1.1. The Responsibility Continuum .................................................. 215
5.2.1.2. Summary .................................................................................... 227
5.2.2. Apologies in Fictive Interaction ........................................................ 228
5.2.3. Apologies in Quoted Interaction ....................................................... 231
5.2.3.1. The Responsibility Continuum .................................................. 231
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5.2.3.2. Standalone Apologies ................................................................ 237
5.3. Conclusions .................................................................................................. 237
6. Conclusions ................................................................................................................. 244
6.1. Summary of Main Findings ......................................................................... 244
6.2. Implications of the Study ............................................................................. 250
6.3. Limitations and Future Research ................................................................. 252
APPPENDICES .............................................................................................................. 268
Appendix A. List of Abbreviations used in the Glosses .................................. 268
Appendix B. List of Corpus Abbreviations Used in Citing Examples ............ 270

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LIST OF TABLES
Table Page

1. Basic Apology Strategies Used in Studies on Apologies ............................................17
2. Summary of Types of Offenses Requiring an Apology in Previous Studies on
Apologies .....................................................................................................................21
3. Summary of Common Apology Strategies Given to Common Situations in
Previous Studies on Apologies ....................................................................................22
4. Types of Constructions Proposed by Croft & Cruse (2004) ........................................35
5. Settings of the Recordings in CORV ...........................................................................53
6. Sample Settings for Dialogic and Monologic Interaction ............................................54
7. Types of Discourse Represented in the SBCSAE........................................................56
8. Sample Shows Used as a Source for the Spoken Section of the COCA......................56
9. List of Magazines Used as Sources for the Financial Magazines Section of the
COCA ..........................................................................................................................57
10. Number of Words in the Corpora Used .......................................................................58
11. List of Explicit Expressions of Apology Used for the Search in the Romanian
Corpora ........................................................................................................................60
12. List of Explicit Apology Lexemes Used for the Search in the English Corpora .........61
13. Sample Constructions ..................................................................................................65
14. Frequency of Apology Categories in the English Analysis Corpora ...........................86
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15. Constructions Used to Acknowledge Responsibility in the Spoken English
Analysis Corpus ...........................................................................................................91
16. Constructions Used to Acknowledge Responsibility in the Spoken English
Extended Corpus ..........................................................................................................92
17. Constructions Used to Deny Responsibility in the Spoken English Analysis
Corpus ........................................................................................................................115
18. Construction Used to Deny Responsibility in the Spoken English Extended
Corpus ........................................................................................................................115
19. Constructions Used to Provide an Explanation in the Spoken English Analysis
Corpus ........................................................................................................................120
20. Constructions Used to Provide an Explanation in the Spoken English Extended
Corpus ........................................................................................................................121
21. Constructions Used to Construe Standalone Apologies in the Spoken English
Analysis Corpus .........................................................................................................129
22. Constructions Used to Construe Repair Apologies in the Spoken English
Analysis Corpus .........................................................................................................141
23. Constructions Used to Construe Interruption Apologies in the Spoken English
Analysis Corpus .........................................................................................................150
24. Constructions Used to Construe Interruption Apologies in the Spoken English
Extended Corpus ........................................................................................................150
25. Potential constructions Used to Express Co-constructed Apologies in the Spoken
English Analysis Corpus ............................................................................................161
26. Characteristics of Different Types of Interaction in Written Discourse ....................169
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