Примењена лингвистика у част Ранку Бугарском - Језик у

JEZIK U UPOTREBI / LANGUAGE IN USE
obviously with the personal experience of one who is not (solely) to blame. That
lessens the burden of contrition, consequently FTA, to a high degree.
Clinton’s personal apology in connection with the affair with Monica
Lewinski is completely different. On that occasion he said:
It is important to me that everybody who has been hurt know that the sorrow I feel
is genuine … I have asked all for their forgiveness. 1
In this apology he never uses “sorry-words” in any form, he has not admitted
the sin and the expressions of contrition are “framed as indirect discourse, as
presupposed rather than asserted, blunting their force and mitigating the speaker’s
responsibility” (R. Lakoff 2003: 209). Still, on the nonverbal level, his tears
and soft voice mean even more than verbal manifestations (cf. Perović 2009).
The then president of Montenegro, Milo Đukanović, also apologised. 2 He
produced a very flourishing and elaborate phrase of apology, yet it was more
euphemistic than direct. He chose “to extended his sincere apology” in his own
name and on behalf of the citizens of Montenegro. The phrase is in the domain of
a very formal register, the absence of explicit verbs of apology and euphemistic
expresion are the main features of this “extension”. Contrary to the lack of specific
verbs of apology, the harm is neatly specified: for all pain, all suffering and
all material loss. The intensifier sincerely is a part of the same register, distance
is encoded through this formal register. The duality of his apology is obvious.
Milo Đukanović is not apologising in his own name, which was the reason for the
promptness of the apology. On the other hand, the wording is carefully adapted
to the situation chosen, resulting in a politically correct speech act of apology.
Political correctness does not insist upon a personal touch, it insists upon the
existence of the speech act. That is the reason why this apology was successful.
1 “I agree with those who have said that in my first statement after I testified I was not contrite
enough. I don’t think there is a fancy way to say that I have sinned. It is important to me that
everybody who has been hurt know that the sorrow I feel is genuine: first and most important, my
family; also my friends, my staff, my Cabinet, Monica Lewinsky and her family, and the American
people. I have asked all for their forgiveness... But I believe that to be forgiven, more than sorrow
is required - at least two more things. First, genuine repentance - a determination to change and to
repair breaches of my own making. I have repented. Second, what my bible calls a ‘broken spirit’;
an understanding that I must have God’s help to be the person that I want to be; a willingness to give
the very forgiveness I seek; a renunciation of the pride and the anger which cloud judgment, lead
people to excuse and compare and to blame and complain...” (approached 13/2/2011 at 9.33 a.m.)
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/famous-short-speeches.html
2 „Ovu priliku želim iskoristiti da u svoje ime i u ime gradjana Crne Gore, posebno onih gradjana
koji dijele moja moralna i šira politička uvjerenja, uputim iskreno žaljenje svim gradjanima
Republike Hrvatske, posebno Dubrovnika i Dubrovačko-neretvanske županije, za svu bol, sva stradanja
i sve materijalne gubitke koje im je nanio bilo koji predstavnik Crne Gore u sastavu JNA u
tim tragičnim dogadjajima... “. http://www.b92.net/info/komentari.php?nav_id=8216
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