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Pragmatics and Society: Online-First Articles

Saying “sorry” in online language

A pragmatic analysis of apologies posted on a Chinese online shopping website

ORCID logo | University of Dayton

This study conducts a pragmatic analysis of 192 apologies that were made by retailers in response to customer complaints posted on a leading Chinese online shopping website. Each collected apology is coded for the components of the apology and the strategies used to build rapport. The choice of the apology components and the exhibited rapport-building strategies are interpreted in the light of wider work in the field of politeness in Chinese. Results of this study extend the pragmatic analyses of public apologies by identifying the distinctive features of apologies occurring on Chinese online shopping websites, i.e., relatively infrequent use of the statement of responsibility and the greater use of offers of repair. Although the language on Chinese online shopping websites is often considered informal, the study found that a number of linguistic components are used by the online sellers as forms of politeness to repair the relationship with the complainers.

Keywords: public apologies, complaints, online shopping websites, politeness, rapport building, face repair
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Literature review
    • 2.1The speech act of apology
    • 2.2Apologies made in a public context
    • 2.3Apologies in Chinese
  • 3.Data collection and methodology
  • 4.Results
    • 4.1Strategies of apology
      • 4.1.1IFID
      • 4.1.2Responsibility expression
      • 4.1.3Account or explanation
      • 4.1.4Offer of repair
      • 4.1.5Promise of forbearance
      • 4.1.6Evasive strategy
    • 4.2Rapport-building strategies
      • 4.2.1Terms of address
      • 4.2.2Opening and closing moves
      • 4.2.3Interjections and exclamatory particles
      • 4.2.4Analogical and poetic language
  • 5.Discussion
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
Published online: 21 June 2024
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ps.22041.yan
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