Is it too Late Now to Say Sorry? – the Language of Public Apologies in the Contexts of American and Philippine Television

Abstract

This pragmatic study of the speech act of apology aims to look into the apology strategies and felicity conditions fulfilled in the public apology statements of an American and a Filipino TV host after alleged faults done during the pageant nights of Miss Universe 2015 and Binibining Pilipinas 2015, respectively. Specifically, the study purposes to establish similarities and differences between the apology strategies and felicity conditions employed in both American and Filipino public apologies. It was found that the American TV host provided a more direct apology expression as compared to the more intensified expression of the Filipino TV host. On the basis of the apology strategies used, the American TV host made emphasis on self-blame, self-embarrassment, and on a more empathetic type of apology. On the other hand, the Filipino TV host made her apology more self-justifying which highlights explicit lack of intent and denial of self-responsibility. As regards felicity conditions, the apology statement of the American TV host is more felicitous than that of the Filipino TV host. The emergence of less common apology strategies was also traced from the statement of the Filipino TV host-the transfer of guilt towards the "apologizee" and the expression of gratitude to a certain group of people to counter the negative impact of the mistake or fault committed.

Knowledge types and presuppositions

“…Oclaret (2013) compared the apology strategies used by Filipino and Filipino-Chinese senior students and found that the latter have fewer apology strategies. De La Rosa and Castro (2016) did a cross-cultural analysis of public apologies issued by American and Filipino television hosts and observed that the Filipino TV host resorted to self-justification and evasive language to deny responsibility for the offense. These investigations have unearthed a number of strategies, realizations, and functions of apologies in the Philippine setting.…”