Abstract
This paper explores the strategies chosen by Australian learners of Italian when performing emailed apologies in Italian. Through a modified discourse completion task, 42 participants produced a total of 317 emails. This paper presents an adapted typology of these emailed apologies in Italian which, while drawing on previous literature, has been tailored to be more specific to and therefore more effective in the analysis of the data collected in this project. It was found that the apology act as performed by Australian learners of Italian consists of two principal components, the apology and the repair, the latter of which is optional but is usually included. In addition, supportive strategies can be included prior to or following either of these components to strengthen the illocutionary force of the apology act. The analysis also evidenced that while a broad speech act structure can be identified, the apology act is a complex phenomenon which can be performed with great variation.
Reference71 articles.
1. Alcón Soler, Eva (2013a). Mitigating e-mail requests in teenagers’ first and second language academic cyber-consultation. Multilingua, 32(6), 779–799. http://doi.org/10.1515/multi-2013-0037
2. Alcón Soler, Eva (2013b). Pragmatic variation in British and international English language users' e-mail communication: a focus on requests. Revista española de lingüística aplicada, 26(26), 25–44.
3. Austin, John Langshaw (1962). How to do things with words: the William James Lectures delivered at Harvard University in 1955. Clarendon Press.
4. Australian Government Department of Education and Training (2016). Year 12 subject enrolments. https://www.acara.edu.au/reporting/national-report-on-schooling-in-australia-data-portal/year-12-subject-enrolments. Accessed 4 March 2019.
5. Bataineh, Rula Fahmi (2013). On congratulating, thanking, and apologizing in Jordanian Arabic and American English. Journal of Intercultural Communication. http://www.immi.se/intercultural/nr32/bataineh.html