Примењена лингвистика у част Ранку Бугарском - Језик у

Slavica Perović
YOU WANT AN APOLOGY? WELL, I AM SORRY!
UDK 81`42
Abstract. In this paper we will focus upon ritualistic and substantive apologies
as two basic types of this speech act in Montenegro. Being dispreferred seconds,
apologies carry a high level of FTAs and frequently comply with negative politeness
in societies which tend to cherish power-related interpersonal behaviour.
Preference of ritualistic apologies over substantive ones in Montenegro could be
explained by a particular cultural script which favours hierarchy and the principle
of seniority usually characterised by a high degree of distance and imposition.
Apologies in Montenegro are regularly extended, ritualistically or converted into
other speech acts or as a preparation for a completely different speech act. One of
the fundamental reasons is to avoid the threat to face. Examples are given from
other sources, too.
Keywords: ritualistic apologies, substantive apologies, FTA, cultural script, face,
speech act, dispreferred responses.
Introductory remarks
The title of this paper comes from an aphorism, and to a great extent reflects the
essence of the speech act of apology as a costly commodity which is pragmatically
conditioned, realised in a specific way in communication, and has one of the
compensatory linguistic formulations contained in the IFID (Illocutionary Force
Indicating Device). Apologies are a linguistic and pragmatic universal belonging
to the politeness phenomena, and it would be hard to imagine language and
communication in which there were no means for linguistic redress in the event
of linguistic or other transgression. However, this universality can be “compromised”
in a cultural script in which apology in its most obvious form, using a
performative verb, may be undelivered. This happens when one moves from the
verbal to the emotional level of communication, where “delivery” of politeness
through apology happens in a non-standard way.
Our starting assumption is that the Montenegrins very readily apologise
through a category we refer to as ritualistic, and do so using a wide spectrum of
nuance that falls under this type of apology. The theory that supports this paper
relies on Goffman’s (1971) division of apology into ritualistic and substantive
compensations According to him the former are those redressing virtual offenses
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