Sei sulla pagina 1di 33

Apologies in Film: Implications for Language

Teaching

Apologies in Film: Implications for Language Teaching


Hsin-chou Huang
St. Johns and St. Marys Institute of Technology
Abstract
This paper aims at exploring the possibility of film as a resource for pragmatics
research as well as language teaching by examining a corpus of apology in 26
American feature films. To test the validity of language used in film, the speech act
realizations in film are compared with apologies in literature for features of strategy
use, syntactic-semantic features as well as contextual factors including types of
offense and gender distribution. It is hypothesized that if apology strategies occur in
film are comparable to the patterns in existing literature, film is a potential resource
for the teaching of pragmatics. The model for coding strategy patterns in this study is
based on Cohen and Olshtain (1981), Olshtain and Cohen (1983), and CCSARP
coding schemes (Blum-Kulka, House, & Kasper). Results show that similarities can
be observed from the aspects of dominant use of a single IFID strategy with
expression of regret being most frequent across situations, and also a predominance
percentage of the syntactic formulae of sorry confirmed by Owen (1983: 66) I am
(Im) + (intensifier) sorry + that S /to VP/ if S/ about that. However, there are indeed
some minor differences regarding the formulae, apologize, between intimates, the
context when apologies occur as well as gender distribution. Despite these
differences, apologies in film do reflect a large portion of real-life situations.
Therefore, in teaching students how to apologize, film can be a good resource,
especially for EFL learners who have limited opportunities to interact with native
speakers to gain such pragmatic knowledge.
1. INTRODUCTION
This paper aims at exploring the possibility of film as a resource for pragmatics
research as well as language teaching by examining a corpus of apology in 26
American feature films. To test the validity of language used in film, the speech act
realizations in film are compared with apologies in literature for features of strategy
use, syntactic-semantic features as well as contextual factors including types of
offense and gender distribution that influence strategy choice. It is hypothesized that if
apology strategies occur in film are comparable to the patterns in existing literature,
film is a potential resource for the teaching of pragmatics. However, if the patterns are
different, it could be an unexplored area for further investigation in the nature of film
language. The first section will firstly discuss the relationship between film and

Apologies in Film: Implications for Language


Teaching

pragmatics. Following this is the literature of apology exploring the range of


strategies used to apologize, their semantic and syntactic structures as well as some
social aspects of apologies. The third section will compare a corpus of film with
existing literature on apologies and present findings with implications for language
teaching.
2. FILM AND PRAGMATICS
Although the use of film in teaching pragmatics is a relatively new phenomenon
(Rose, 2001), the link between film and language teaching has been established for
some time in previous literature with a general focus on the teaching of listening and
speaking skills (Allan, 1985; Lonergan, 1984) and only a few of them addressed the
availability of film data as a pragmatic source (Bardovi-Harlig, Hartford, MahanTaylor, Morgan, & Reynolds, 1991; Rose, 1997, 2001). In fact, apart from teaching
listening and speaking, films with rich cultural contexts can be served as a model for
learners as well as a source for pragmatics studies in language classrooms (Rose,
1997, 2001). However, the main issue is the validity of film language in teaching and
researching (Rose, 1997). Although there seems to be relatively few studies address
the issue of using film in pragmatics research, the literature has offered some
discussions. On the one hand, Manes and Wolfson (1981) argue that sources such as
novels and plays are unreliable and the only reliable method is ethnographic
approach. On the other hand, Saville-Troike (1989) believes that communicative
patterns in literature are supposed to encompass some kind of normative patterns, and
portray people in terms of their stereotype of language use. Film language is likely to
reveal norms of language use in a socially appropriate manner. Similarly, with regard
to questionnaire data collected either from written discourse completion tests or roleplay, despite the fact that such elicited data represents only a small set of a
comprehensive research program, it has been used widely in speech act research so far
(Kasper & Dahl, 1991) due to its effectiveness for controlling the contextual variables
as well as for the comparison of strategies from different languages (Rintell &
Mitchell, 1989). In addressing to the variation between written and oral data, Rintell
& Michell (1989) compared ESL learners and English native speakers performance
of requests and apologies in Discourse Completion items and closed role-plays and
found little difference for native speakers between the two response modes in closed
role-plays. It seems that questionnaire responses also represent norms of socially
appropriate language use and reflect some broad view of speech acts. Therefore, the
avocation of using fiction and questionnaires can be applied to the use of film as well.
Given the fact that a collection of naturally occurring data is technically undesirably
and speech act like apologies are more situation-dependent and occur less frequently
than others (Olshtain & Cohen, 1983), it is then decided that film data is used to
2

Apologies in Film: Implications for Language


Teaching

observe patterns of apologies in American daily life.


3. RESEARCH INTO APOLOGY
An apology is primarily a speech act, which is meant to provide support for the
hearer who was offended or impeded by a violation (Olshtain, 1989). Having decided
to carry out the verbal apology, the speaker is willing to humiliate himself/herself to
admit the fault and take the responsibility for the speaker. In other words, the act of
apologizing is face-threatening for the hearer and face-saving to the speaker, or
sometimes it can threaten both the hearer and speaker in some cultures (Obeng, 1999;
Thomas, 1995). As apologies express negative politeness, they signal the speakers
awareness of having impinged on the hearers negative face and restricted her/his face
in some way. Apology is therefore a compensatory action to an offence, which the
speaker is causally involved and threatens the face of the hearer (Bergman & Kasper,
1993). This view is supported by Goffmans (1971) idea that apologies can be viewed
as remedial interchanges serving to reestablish social harmony after a real or virtual
offense. Moreover, an apology typically addresses an offense by the apologizer such
as saying sorry when bumping into a stranger; however, sometimes an apology can be
made on behalf of someone for whom the apologizer feels responsible, such as the
case when mother apologizes for her childs spilling milk on the carpet. What is more,
Brown and Levinsons (1987) politeness theory predicts that the weightness of facethreatening acts (FTAs), calculated by values of social distance, dominance, and
degree of imposition, determines the amount of remedial efforts offered in the
performance of FTAs. Relative seriousness of FTA and weights of contextual
variables such as power and distance may influence the strategy choice (Holmes,
1989). Previous studies have shown that severity of offense is systematically related
to the offenders obligation (Bergman & Kasper, 1993; Olshtain, 1989), which results
in more elaborate apologies (Fraser, 1981; Holmes, 1990).
With regard to strategy use, the literature has shown that the five most frequently
used strategies are (1) an explicit expression of an apology (2) an expression of
acknowledging the responsibility (3) an explanation, (4) an offer of repair and (5) a
promise of nonoccurrence (Olshtain, 1989; Olshtain & Cohen, 1983). The first two
are general, built on certain conventional formula like Im sorry but the rest three are
situation specific, heavily relying on contexts. An intensifier, such as very, really
terribly can be added to create more humiliation on the part of the speaker and
elevating the hearer. The most frequently occurring apology strategy has been found
to be a formulaic expression of apology with expressions containing apologize, sorry,
forgive, excuse, pardon (Meier, 1998). Among these explicit performative
expressions, sorry is dominant. However, there are some exceptions in the literature
where formulaic expressions are not overwhelmingly favorite due to the variation of
3

Apologies in Film: Implications for Language


Teaching

severity of the offense (Trosberg, 1987), and social infractions and violations of space
(Holmes, 1990). With regard to the syntactic formula of sorry, the most frequent
occurrences include sorry without any compliment, sorry to VP and sorry (that) S
(Owen, 1983). In contrast to the higher frequency of sorry, expressions with
apologize appears to be rare (Cohen & Olshtain, 1981; Owen, 1983) due to the fact
that apologize is restricted to more formal, and written interactions (Fraser, 1981). On
the other hand, the difference between sorry and excuse lies in the nature of the
offense whether it is related to personal injuries or a social rule. Moreover, the use of
single strategies, especially an explicit expression of apology, occurs more frequently
than combinations of strategies (Holmes, 1990; Olshtain & Cohen, 1983). On the
other hand, the most likely strategies to occur first were routine formulae, such as
sorry and emotives, such as Oh, no (Meier, 1998). Those strategies that are least likely
to occur include redress, such as let me pay for that and forbearance, such as this
wont happen again. In both Homes (1990) and Meiers (1998) studies, the strategy
of forbearance has never occurred first in a response sequence nor has it ever occurred
alone.
The research goals of previous apology studies mostly focus more on
classification of strategies (Olshtain & Cohen, 1983) and relate them to language
teaching (Cohen, Olshtain, & Rosenstein, 1986). Later vein of research in apology
discusses more on the factors contributing to strategy choice (Holmes, 1989, 1990,
1995) and syntactic semantic features of apology (Holmes, 1990; Owen, 1983). It is
the integration of the strategy use with the contextual factors that serves the purpose
of present study. In other words, the pragmatics of apologies, i.e. who says what to
whom and why, is the aim of this study.
4. METHODOLOGY AND DATA
As studies concerning the nature of apology in a variety of languages and
cultures are blooming over the last decades (Blum-Kulka & Olshtain, 1984; Fraser,
1981; Holmes, 1990; Olshtain, 1983, 1989; Olshtain & Cohen, 1983; Owen, 1983),
there is a growing source of empirical data for apologizing. Interestingly enough,
there is a great difference regarding the data collection in apology studies. One of the
studies is from intuition and informal observation (Broken & Reinhart, 1978). Many
are in discourse completion tests limited to apology strategies as in CCSARP
(Olshtain, 1989; Olshtain & Rosenstein, 1986; Suszczynska, 1999). Still others are
elicited from role-play methods (Cohen & Olshtain, 1981; Trosberg, 1987). Only a
limited number of apology studies is collected in natural settings with one based on
written and oral ethnographic observation of New Zealand English (Holmes, 1990)
and collected from natural interactions in Akan discourse (Obeng, 1999). The model
chosen for comparison is therefore built upon pervious studies on apology, especially
4

Apologies in Film: Implications for Language


Teaching

the CCSARP project, whose results are based on eight apology contexts in written
questionnaires of seven languages. The current study focuses not only on the
identification of strategy use but also on socio-pragmatic contexts of apologies, such
as syntactic-semantic patterns for apology, distribution of apology strategy under
social contexts, and relationship between participants. The film data was collected
from 26 American feature films (See Appendix A) of 197 apologies (Appendix B).
The criteria for selecting films followed Roses study (2001), in which movies should
be no more than fifteen years old and should portray contemporary people in real-life
settings. There are also other practical constraints that selections must be available in
video rental shops in Taiwan and movie scripts are available on line 1. To facilitate
discussions about genre differences, the films are categorized into four broad
categories based on The Internet Movie Database whose classification is generated by
voters around the world2. Among 26 American feature films whose publishing years
ranging from 1992 to 2002, six of them are in the category of Science Fiction with a
total of 27 apologies, six films belong to Thriller and Action (23 apologies), ten films
are in Romance and Comedy (106 apologies), and the rest four are in Drama (41
apologies). In Table 1, we can clearly see that on average apologies occur more in the
genre of Romance/Comedy as well as Drama while in Thriller/Action and Science
Fiction, apologies are relatively few. It could be interpreted that in Romance/Comedy
oftentimes the protagonists experience ups and downs in relationships and the
interactions between characters are emotionally packed; therefore, apologies were
frequently made to tie up the bond. Similarly, in the section of Drama, whose main
plot involved a sketch of a major history event like Pearl Harbor and Titanic as well
as an autobiography of some celebrities like Erin Brockovich, apologies occur just
what we found in our daily life. However, for the genres of Action and Science
Fiction, the main dragging point is to create supernatural powers and create worlds
into the future mysteries like Back to the Future and smash crimes like Air Force One
or even a murder like The Sixth Sense; therefore, it is natural that action-packed
scenes outnumber episodes depicting human communications. It is not hard to
imagine that apologies are rare in the genres of Action and Science Fiction.

Websites offering free movie subtitles include Drew's Scripts-O-Rama Index at http://www.scripto-rama.com/table.shtml, Movie scripts at http://www.moviescripts.de/ and Movie screenplay
database at http://www.iscriptdb.com/
2
This section contains a set of top 50/bottom 10 movie charts split into various divisions, ie gender and
genre. Each chart is generated using votes received from regular voters. Available reports can be found
at http://us.imdb.com/Charts/Votes/ .
5

Apologies in Film: Implications for Language


Teaching

Table 1: Apology distribution across genres


Number of apologies

Number of movies

Average

Science Fiction

27

4.5

Thriller and Action

23

3.8

Romance and Comedy

106

10

10.6

Drama

41

10.25

TOTAL

197

26

7.57

5. THE ANALYSIS
The model used in this study was based on Cohen and Olshtain (1981: 113-134),
Olshtain and Cohen (1983: 22-23), and CCSARP coding schemes (Blum-Kulka,
House, & Kasper, 1989). This model has been empirically developed and successfully
tested across languages and it is found that most speakers resort to a limited number
of strategies when apologizing (Olshtain, 1989). Of all the above strategies, Olshtain
and Cohen (1983) note that the illocutionary indicating device (IFID), which contains
the formulaic, routinized forms of apology or explicit performative verbs to express
an apology, and the second strategy of expressing the speakers responsibility are
general and non-language specific; that is, those two strategies are the most frequently
used and can realize an apology in any situation. Moreover, these two general
strategies, IFID and expression of responsibility, account for the majority of apology
across cultures (Olshtain, 1989). For example, the most explicit realization of an
apology is formulaic expressions of regret such as sorry, apologize, regret, and
excuse. As IFID fulfills the function of signaling regret, the speaker asks for
forgiveness and thus placates the hearer (Blum-Kulka et al., 1989). Results show that
there are language specific preferences for IFID realizations. In English, the most
common form is the expression of regret, be sorry (Olshtain & Cohen, 1983). On
the other hand, the second strategy, taking on responsibility, is chosen by the speaker
when he/she recognizes responsibility for the offense. The subcategories for this
strategy are on a continuum from self-humbling on the speakers part to a complete
denial of responsibility. The acceptance of responsibility refers to the speakers intent
to initiate an apology while refusal to acknowledge guilt testifies the speakers
rejection of the need to apologize. The sub-formulas include accepting the blame,
expressing self-deficiency, recognizing the other person as deserving apology,
expressing lack of intent and expression of embarrassment.
The rest of the strategies, including explaining the situation which indirectly
brings the offense, the offer of repair, as well as the promise of forbearance, are
situation-specific; that is, those strategies can be applied only when specific situation
calls for such formulas. For example, the third strategy, explanation or account, is

Apologies in Film: Implications for Language


Teaching

used when the apologizer feels the need to justify his/her offense caused by external
factors over which the speaker has no control. Depending on the situation,
explanations may be very specific (e.g. The bus was late.) or implicit (e.g. The traffic
is not so smooth in the morning.) The fourth strategy, an offer of repair is used when
serious offense occurred. The last strategy is used when the speaker could have
avoided the offense but not. This strategy is the least applied among all the other
strategies (Holmes, 1990; Olshtain, 1989). The apology formulas are as follows.
(1) An explicit expression of apology (IFIDs)
The first one is to use formulaic expressions containing explicit
performative verbs, such as Im sorry; Excuse me; I regret; I apologize
to explicitly express an apology.
a. An expression of regret, e.g. Im sorry.
b. An offer of apology, e.g. I apologize.
c. A request for forgiveness, e.g. Excuse me/ Forgive me/ Pardon me.
(2) Taking on Responsibility
To express responsibility, which reflects the speakers degree of
willingness to admit the fault for the offense and to placate the hearer.
EG: Its all my fault. I have made a mistake. I shouldnt have done that.
a. Explicit self-blame, e.g. It is my fault / mistake.
b. Lack of intent, e. g. I didnt mean it.
c. Expression of self-deficiency, e.g. I was confused / I didnt see
you / I forgot
d. Justify the hearer, e.g. Youre right to be angry.
e. Expression of embarrassment. E.g. I feel awful about it.
f. Refusal to acknowledge guilt.
1. denial of responsibility e.g. It wasnt my fault.
2. blame the hearer e.g. Its your own fault.
3. pretend to be offended e.g. Im the one to be offended.
(3) Explanation or account
To give an explanation which indirectly cause the apologizer to commit
the offense. For example, the students may say, The bus is late. to
account for the reason being late for class.
(4) Offer of Repair
To give an offer of repair. The apologizer may seek ways to make up
the loss or provide some kind of payment which results from the
offense. EG. When you failed to return the book to someone you
borrowed, you may say, Ill buy you a new one, or Ill treat you a
lunch.
(5) Promise of Forbearance
To promise non-occurrence. The apologizer promised not to allow the
offense to happen again. EG. When you split milk over the carpet, you
may promise you mom that, I wont do that again.
5.1 How to apologize: Apology strategies
The corpus consists of 197 remedial exchanges. Table 2 shows the total number
of each strategy in the data. However, strategies are not mutually excusive; that is,
they may co-occur. Thats why the total number of the strategies amounts to 298.

Apologies in Film: Implications for Language


Teaching

Example (1) shows how CCSARP coded the data as having all of the basic
strategies.
(1)
IFID
RESPONSIBILITY
EXPLANATION
Im sorry. I missed the bus, and there was a terrible traffic jam. Lets make
REPAIR
FORBEARANCE
another appointment. Ill make sure that Im here on time.
Table 2: Apology strategies in film
Strategy

Number

a. express regret

164

55.0%

b. offer apology

19

6.5%

c. request forgiveness

14

4.7%

2. An acknowledgement of responsibility

56

18.8%

3. Explanation or account

35

11.7%

4. Offer of repair

2.3%

5. A promise of forbearance

1.0%

298

100%

1. An explicit expression of apology

TOTAL

The most frequent apology strategy in film data is an explicit expression of


apology (100%) with the routinized Im sorry appearing in the majority of cases
(55.5%) as shown in example (2). This strategy accounted for over half of the
strategies used. This confirms pervious findings that IFID is the most frequently used
strategies with the common form, be sorry (Olshtain, 1983, 1989). The strategy of
acknowledging responsibility occupies the second highest proportion (18.8%) among
all the five strategies, which corresponds to Rintell and Michells (1989) finding that a
supportive move in taking on responsibility, including implicit responsibility and
implicit self-blame, is in the majority of their written and oral data. Oftentimes the
expression of responsibility co-occurs with IFID to show that the offender has
recognized responsibility for the offense in terms of self-blame as shown in example
(3) and expression of self-deficiency in example (4). The strategy of explanation or
account fell into the third frequently occurring strategy, which consisted only 11.7%
of the total strategies. This is quite contrary to what Holmes (1990) finds in her New
Zealand data that the predominance of explanation is marked. It could be interpreted
that language in American feature film is quite different from that in southern sphere.
Besides, the nature of film language is tightened with dramatic episodes; therefore,
unless the situation requires an explicit explanation, such as failure to catch a flight as

Apologies in Film: Implications for Language


Teaching

shown in example (5) or the desire to see the beloved one in example (6), an
explanation might be redundant and waste time.
(2)
ERIN: You never called me back. I left messages.
ED: You did? Wow, sorry about that.
(Erin Brockovich)
(3)
Alice: Mom?
Rose: Yes, dear?
Alice: Im sorry I was so mean to you earlier.
(Air Force One)
(4)
Psychiatrist: We've missed you on other days. So has Hank.
Janine: Yeah, well I'm sorry. Though I wish I could visit more often, but... you
know.
(Marvins room)
(5)
Kay: You busy, Frank?
Frank The Pug: Sorry, Kay, I cant talk right now, my rides leaving in --(Men in Black)
(6)
Boy: Hey ! It's forbidding other people to come in here.
Jim: Oh ! I'm sorry. I just want to see Michelle. Do you know her?
(American Pie 2)
In addition, repair (2.3%) and forbearance (1.0%) were the least strategies used
in film. They were always used in combination with other strategies especially with
IFID and never used alone, which parallels the previous findings on strategy use
(Olshtain, 1989; Olshtain & Cohen, 1983). Repair strategies in film occurred in more
urgent situations when the offender tried to cure the wound in example (7) and make
up relationship in (8). Repair was also made on the occasions of splitting water, and
sometimes the offense was so serious that the offender needed to apologize twice to
gain approval as shown in example (9). Interesting to say, only three cases of promise
of non-occurrence were found in the data, which is similar to Holmess (1990) study
that forbearance is the least strategy used in New Zealand apology corpus. In example
(10), such promise of forbearance occurred between people with differential powerful
relationships, i.e. a security guard to a commander-in-chief. In summary, the most
frequently strategies in film data are IFID with the expression of Im sorry and
Responsibility the second place, which confirms Olstains findings (1983, 1989) that
only single strategy is enough in apology across situations.
(7)
JERRY: And just think if I got her the ring she really wanted.
9

Apologies in Film: Implications for Language


Teaching

Dorothy laughs. He looks at her strangely. Suddenly she feels very nervous, as
he sets down his bags.
DOROTHY: Sorry. Uh, let me see, have a seat. I'll get you some Aloe Vera for
that cut too.
(Jerry Maguire 1996)
(8)
Jules: You were jealous?
Michael: Crazy jealous. I'm sorry. Can we maybe spend some time alone this
afternoon? Would that be all right?
(My best friends wedding)
(9)
WILLIAM: Oh shit. Oh my god. Im sorry, Im so sorry. Here, let me help.
ANNA: Get your hands off.
WILLIAM: Im really sorry. I live just over the street. I have the water and soap
that you could get cleaned up.
ANNA: No, thank you. I need to get my car back.
(Notting Hill)
(10)
GEORGE: What am I paying you fifty cents an hour for?
BIFF: I'm sorry, Champ, (getting to his feet) It won't happen again, sir.
(Back to future)

10

Apologies in Film: Implications for Language


Teaching

With regard to the combination of strategies, Table 3 summarizes the


combinations which occur using the five broad categories and provides information
about the different patterns found in the data. The single strategy IFID dominates the
data (62.4%), which corresponds to findings in CCSARP that one single strategy
constitutes native speakers apology formula. The second highest frequency of
occurrences is the combination of two strategies (29.4%) with the category of IFID +
responsibility ranked the highest. The use of three strategies (7.7%) and four
strategies (0.5%) were relatively rare in the film corpus. Examples of combination of
strategies can be found in examples (11) to (18). The number of combined strategies
occurred much less than one single strategy in the film data. As for the order of
strategy use, most of them appear to have IFID coming the first (95%) with only a
few exceptions with responsibility coming the first place (5%) as shown in examples
(19) and (20). Comparatively speaking, few research has been done in the areas of
how strategies are combined in remedial exchanges. Although Trosberg (1987)
observed the phenomena of combination of strategies in her role-play data, she did not
give exact percentage of such strategy combination nor did she further analyze the
possible cause of combing strategies. But she did mention that the reason why a
comparatively few number of direct strategies used in her role-play data was that
respondents were pressured to produce more strategies under chosen situations when
role-playing (Trosberg, 1987). However, in Holmes New Zealand data, we did find
that combination strategies only occurred in weightier offense and composed of fewer
portions of apologies than single strategies. This finding is similar to film data. In
addition, strategies that were least likely to occur include redress, such as let me pay
for that and forbearance, such as this wont happen again. This corresponds to
Homes (1990) and Meiers (1998) studies that the strategy of forbearance has never
occurred first in a response sequence nor has it ever occurred alone.
Table3: Combinations of apology strategies
Combination of strategies

Number

Percentage

123

62.4%

(1) + (2) (i.e. IFID + responsibility)

40

20.3%

(1) + (3) (i.e. IFID + explanation)

10

5.1%

(1) + (4) (i.e. IFID + repair)

2.5%

(1) + (5) (i.e. IFID + forbearance)

1.5%

14

7.2%

Single strategy
(1) IFID (i.e. sorry, forgive, excuse)
Two strategies

Three strategies
(1) + (2) + (3) (i.e. IFID + responsibility + explanation)

11

Apologies in Film: Implications for Language


Teaching

(1) +(2) + (4) (i.e. IFID + responsibility + repair)

0.5%

0.5%

197

100%

Four strategies
(1) +(2)+ (3) +(4) (i.e. IFID + responsibility + explanation+ repair)
TOTAL

(11) IFID-single strategy


Crag: Shut up!
Lotte: Sorry, honey.
(Being John Malkovich)
(12) IFID + responsibility
Lester: Im sorry. Im sorry. I havent been more available. Im just ..Im..
JANE: 0h, great. So now it's my fault.
(American Beauty)
(13) IFID + explanation
Nurse: Sorry, Dr. I dont know Brooklyn.
Dr. Bettes: Its okay. Terry. Tell the lab Id like the report back today.
(As Good As It Gets)
(14) IFID + repair
Nora: You poor, poor man.
Simon: Forgive my recent crankiness and as soon as things are on track again,
Ill call.
(As Good As It Gets)
(15) IFID + forbearance
Zoe We did have some pretty magical times in between, leaving me every
now and then, saying I was too " clingy".
JimmieZoe, I'm sorry, I just. If you forgive me now and marry me, I promise
I will never leave you again
(Bachelor)
(16) IFID + responsibility + explanation
Frank: Frank Morrison, I met you at Ricks wedding.
Coleman: Sorry, Frank. Im getting really bad with faces. It must be early
Alzheimers or something.
(Domestic Disturbance)
(17) IFID + responsibility + repair
Vincent: You failed me.
Malcolm: Vincent..Im sorry I didnt help you. I can try to help you now.
(The Sixth Sense)
(18) IFID + responsibility + explanation+ repair
CRAIG: Sorry, I'm so late. Lester just wouldn't let me go. Were supposed to
have dinner with him on Friday. I can get us out of it if you want. He's
really amazing, this insane old lech. It's actually sort of amusing when
you get past just how disgusting it is.
LOTTE: Did you eat?

12

Apologies in Film: Implications for Language


Teaching

CRAIG: Nah, Im not hungry. Im sorry I didnt call. It was just, you know hard
to get away.
(Being John Malkovich)
(19)
Lotte confessed to God for what she has doneimmoral things.
Lotte: Ive sinned, unwittingly, against the community. And for this I am truly
sorry.
(Being John Malkovich, 2002)
(20)
Michael: Yes, you did. Great, Kim. Two days before our wedding, you lay this on
me. I'm supposed to roll over? Fine. I'm an insensitive, sexist asshole.
You're better off without me.
Kim: No, Michael, no. You are so right. I was so wrong. We settled this, and I
reneged. That just wasn't fair. You have to forgive me and forget this
happened or I'll just die. Please.
(My best friends wedding)
5.2 Syntactic-semantic features of apologies
Most of the apologies employ explicit strategies, among which patterns with
sorry are the most frequent (Olshtain, 1983, 1989). Owen (1983) provides a very
comprehensive framework of how sorry is being used in her British corpus and finds
only a small set of syntactic-semantic formulae and a small range of lexical items are
used in apology (Table 4). A predominance percentage of the syntactic formulae of
sorry described by Owen (1983: 66) is as follows:
(21) I am (Im) + (intensifier) sorry + that S /to VP/ if S/ about that.

13

Apologies in Film: Implications for Language


Teaching

Table 4: Syntactic-semantic patterns in apology


United Kingdom
Pattern

Film
N

%
8.1%

Variant of apologize or apology/ies


Verb
Eg. I/we +must/ought to/would like to +
apologize

3.6%

16

Noun
Eg. I have an apology to make
Accept my apologies

1.2%

1.5%

I'm afraid

8.4%

0%

Patterns with sorry


(Intensifier) sorry

20

24.1%

41

20.8%

I'm/am (intense) sorry

21

25.3%

53

26.9%

(I'm) (intense) sorry to /if/for VP/(that) S

22

26.5%

47

23.9%

(I'm) (intense) sorry about that/it

10.8%

23

11.7%

Other patterns
Excuse me/us

0%

10

5.1%

Forgive me

0%

2.0%

TOTAL

83

100%

197

100%

Overall, the difference in terms of syntactic-semantic features between film


corpus and British data is not statistically significant (p .05)3. In film data, there is
also a dominant number of the formula (21) (83.3%), with I'm/am (intense) sorry
being the first (26.9%), (I'm) (intense) sorry to /if/for VP/(that) S the second (23.9%),
(Intensifier) sorry the third (20.8%), and (I'm) (intense) sorry about that/it the last
(11.7%). The use of Sorry without subject occurred most frequently when offense was
of no potential damage, such as a slip of tongue as shown in example (22), failure to
catch the flow of conversation as in example (23), or between intimates as in example
(24). This finding confirms what Owen finds in her British data that Sorry is often
used for trivial offenses and even when Sorry is used for more substantial offenses, it
is mostly applied to closer relationships, suggesting a trade-off between seriousness
of offence and closeness of relationship (Owen, 1983: 67). Unlike Sorry, which is
often used for minor disturbances and may not be costly to the addresss face, the
3

The statistical measure used for this study is Kolmogorov-Smirnov Testing. Max

1.36 *
D=0.079383524 < D0.05 , D0.05=

NM
N * M =0.177969576 (N=83; M=197)
14

Apologies in Film: Implications for Language


Teaching

structure, Im sorry, is used for relatively serious offense and occupied the most
frequent occurrences (26.9%) in the film data. In fact, it covered a wide variety of
situations, including revealing an unexpected news in example (25), functioning as a
conversation opener in example (26) or forgetting someones preference in example
(27). Such percentage is also similar to Owens study. The rest two formulae were
Sorry with complements either of a full complement or verb phrase. Oftentimes (55
out of 70 examples) it is linked with expression of responsibility as shown in
examples (28) and (29). In addition, intensifiers, such as really (18 cases) were used
when offenses were more serious as shown in example (30) and so was used between
lovers to express losing time to be together as shown in example (31) (7 cases). Such
tendency can be found both in film and Owens British data. Likewise, in Olshtains
study (1989), internal intensification, which adds routinized intensifier such as very
and really to IFID, occurs mostly when students forgot to return books to their
professor. Besides, Olshtain (1989) found that a significance correlation between
social status and the level of internal intensification. In other words, apologizers with
lower status than the addressee will choose to use more intensification, such as Im
really sorry. Im terribly sorry. This is also confirmed by film corpus.
(22)
Cole: You said the s word.
Malcolm: Yeah. Sorry.
(The others)
(23)
Roland: Sorry, we were saying?
(The lost world: Jurassic Park)
(24)
Malcovich: Sorry dear, I lost control for a minute.
Maxine: Its Okay, my sweet.
(25)
MARCEE:(explodes) And say what? "Please remove your dick from my ass?!"
Both men look at her. The outburst has surprised even Marcee.
MARCEE: (continuing) I'm sorry. I'm a little pregnant right now.
TIDWELL: I feel like crying. I feel like breaking the room up. (Jerry Macquire)
(26)
Marshall looks out the side cockpit window, sees Carlton's F-15 fly steady with
his.
COL. CARLTON: I'm sorry, sir. (Carlton salutes Marshall. Marshall returns it.)
MARSHALL: Thanks for your help, Colonel.
(Air force one)
(27)
Ricky: I dont eat bacon, remember?
Barbara: Im sorry. I must have forgotten.
(American Beauty)
15

Apologies in Film: Implications for Language


Teaching

(28)
Ray: Im sorry I was rude just then.
Dorothy: Its OK. We are in it together now.
(Jerry Maguire)
(29)
Annabel: Maureens getting a divorce.
Joe: Im sorry to hear that.
(Youve got mail)
(30)
Hank: Mom, I'm really sorry I burned the house down.
Janine: Is that it? I'm really anxious now to get on the road. (Marvins room)
(31)
Jack: Rose!! In here!
(Rose hears his voice behind her. She spins and runs back, locating the right
door, then pushes it open, creating a small wave. She splashes over Jack and puts
her arms around him.
Rose: Jack, Jack, Jack... I'm sorry, I'm so sorry.
(Titanic)
The use of apologize or apology/ies is extremely rare (3.8%) in Owens (1983)
British corpus due to the fact that explicit performative formulae are used only
between distant relationships and restricted to formal, written interactions or in a
monologue fashion. However, the occurrences in film data were comparably higher
(9.6%) but the situations for using apologies were similar; that is, apologies were
made between strangers as shown in example (32), to the public in example (33) or to
people of higher social status in a monologue fashion in example (34). But the only
two exceptions were that the formulae apologize and apology can be found between
intimate relationships especially when one party wanted to make up after argument as
shown in example (35). On the other hand, monologue fashion was not exclusively
applying the formulae, apologize only, there were some cases using excuse me as
shown in example (36) and Im sorry in example (37). It could be interpreted that in
romance movies the director might want to create the tension between protagonists so
that strong emotions and feelings elaborated verbally by using apology might arouse
the audiences interest in looking forwards to what will happen next. Such private
moment is hard to observe in naturally-occurring settings. Similarly, with regard to
monologues, in real life people seldom talk that long without being interrupted.
However, in film the director might want to create the climax or space for the speaker
to spell out his/her mind, which results in a variety of syntactic uses of apology.
(32)
STELLA: It's a good thing he had your name circled in the phone book. I would
have called the police.

16

Apologies in Film: Implications for Language


Teaching

PROFESSOR EMMETT BROWN: Well, Mrs. Baines, Mr. Baines, thank you for
your trouble. Both Marty and I apologize
for the inconvenience. We'll get him home
and as good as new.
(33)
(Back to the future)
Max: Any more announcements?
William: Wellactually, yes. I feel I must apologize to everyone for my
behavior for the last six months. I have, as you know, been slightly
down these months.
(Notting Hill)
(34)
Lester: Pity, it tells it like it is. That's why the eastern, read Jewish, publishing
establishment won't touch it. That's a quote from the book jacket. George
Will, I think. (beat) I apologize if you can't understand a word I'm saying,
Dr. Schwartz.
Dr.: I understand perfectly.
(American Beauty)
(35)
DOROTHY: You don't have to explain.
JERRY: Look, the other night, I want to apologize.
DOROTHY: (can't read her) Yeah, what happened there.
(Jerry Maguire)
(36)
MARCEE: Now I don't know what you do for your five-percent, but this man,
my husband has a whole plan, an image... we majored in marketing,
Jerry, and when you put him in a Waterbed Warehouse commercial,
excuse me, you are making him common. He is pure gold and you're
giving him "Waterbed Warehouse" when he deserves the big four
shoe, car, clothing- line, soft-drink. The four jewels of the celebrity
endorsement dollar.
(Jerry Maguire)
(37)
PATRICIA (cont'd): I'm sorry. I can't talk about it without crying. Veronica and
I have so much in common -- well, not all the sad parts -- but
we were both famous by the time we were 29 and, believe
me, that's rough.
(wipes her nose with a Kleenex, pulling herself together)
Anyway, I just want to say that I'm especially thrilled to be publishing
it. Veronica lives in my building and we met
in the
elevator. By the time we had traveled from the eighth floor
to the first, we had a deal. First printing:
one million
copies.
(Youve got mail)
17

Apologies in Film: Implications for Language


Teaching

The pervious section discussed that similarities between film and Owens British
data lie in their dominant usages of the expression of regret, I am (Im) + (intensifier)
sorry + that S /to VP/ if S/ about that. The differences lie in their percentages of the
occurrences of apology with film data (9.6%) being higher than the British data
(3.8%) On the other hand, the situations when apologies occurred varied. In this
section, we can find another three different aspects between film and Owens corpus
including usages of afraid, forgive me and excuse me. Owen (1983) proposed that
when Im afraid is followed by a full complement sentence, the function of the
utterance is to express regret and thus the remedial effect may be achieved. There are
a total of 7 cases in her data; however, in film data we did find one case of using
afraid as shown in example (38). But it was linked with Im sorry so the single
formula of Im afraid was counted as zero in my film data. Secondly, the instance of
forgive was absent in Owens data but it did occur in the film (a total of 4 cases) as
shown in example (39) when a mother wanted to win back her daughter and in
example (40) when Rose asked one of the crew members on board if the number of
life boat was enough, and used forgive me to tone down the imposition of her request.
It could be interpreted that as movies are emotion-packed, the audience might
appreciate passions using strong verbal inflations such as forgive to make the episode
more dramatic. The last semantic-syntactic difference lies in the usage of excuse me,
which is virtually absent in Owens British data. Since it is more related to the issue of
the context of apologies, it would be discussed in the next section.
(38)
FLORIS: Please have a seat, Mr. Juarez
GRAIG: Schwartz.
FLORIS: Pardon?
GRAIG: Schwartz.
FLORIS: I'm sorry, I'm afraid I have no idea what you're saying right now.
GRAIG: My name is Schwartz.
(Being John Malkovich)
(39)
Mom : I'm sorry I was so harsh on you. Can you forgive me?
Anne : ( weak up and didn't say anything )
(The Others)
(40)
ROSE: Mr. Andrews, I did the sum in my head, and with the number of lifeboats
times the capacity you mentioned... forgive me, but it seems that there are
not enough for everyone aboard.
ANDREWS: About half, actually. Rose, you miss nothing, do you? In fact, I put
in these new type daviLinests, which can take an extra row of
boats here.
(Titanic)
18

Apologies in Film: Implications for Language


Teaching

5.3 When to apologize: Context


The third area centers upon how the severity of offense determines the choice of
strategy. In considering various factors influence the choice of an apologizing
strategy, the first question might be, Why did the person even choose to apologize?
It might because the apologizer feels regretful for what he/she has done, want to set
things right by taking up responsibility and express regret (Fraser, 1981). However,
there are some cases that people apologize just to facilitate moves when social rules
have been broken. Such distinction is useful in examining the difference between
Excuse me and Im sorry (Borkin & Rinhart, 1978). For example, when one was
hurrying out of his way through a large crowds, Excuse me is more appropriate than
Im sorry since it is not socially acceptable to rush through crowds. However, if this
person is getting in someone elses way or even stepping on his/her toes, it would be
proper to say I sorry because such act has caused personal injury. This is an example
of how the nature of the offense influences strategy choice. In real life situations,
social violations range from slight offenses, such as bumps, causing a minor
inconvenience to someone or entering the wrong room, to more serious offenses, such
as cause someones death or putting someones life in danger, and the like. Most of
the slight offenses might be responded mostly with Excuse me and at most some Im
sorry.
In film, there are ten cases of Excuse me/us and most of them were used when
social rules were about to be broken or have been broken, such as asking the
addressee to repeat words as shown in example (41)(5 cases), getting ones attention
in example (42)(4cases), or invading someones space in example (43) (1case). It
confirms what Brokin and Reinharts (1978) finding that excuse me is used to
remedy a past or immediately forthcoming breach of etiquette or other light
infraction of a social rule on the part of the speaker, while Im sorry is more related
to an expression of dismay or regret at an unpleasantness suffered by the speaker and
/or the addressee (p.61). However, the situation of bumping into someone in
CCSARP or other speech act studies (Rintell & Mitchell, 1989) has never occurred in
film because such minor interaction is too trivial to be included in film.
(41)
MAN: You're him, aren't you?
MALCOLM: Excuse me?
MAN: The guy. The scientist. I saw you on TV.
(The lost world: Jurassic park)
(42)
SIMON: Mr. Udall... excuse me. Have you seen Verdell?
MELVIN: What's he look like?
(As Good As It Gets)
19

Apologies in Film: Implications for Language


Teaching

(43)
ROSE: Excuse me. (She stalks away).
RUTH :I do apologize.
(Titanic)
In CCSARP, the use of the five strategies all occur in the data, but the
distribution of strategies varies across the situations. Olshtain (1989) only mentions
the degrees of using strategies vary across situations, but he didnt specify the
tendency that what strategy is most favored under which situation. Situations in
CCSARP include a university professor who has not corrected a students paper, a
student forgetting to return a book to the professor, a manger who is late for an
appointment, a waiter serving the wrong course, a student being late for a meeting
with his friend, a drive and an insult. However, the category cannot fit in film data in
that film is emotion and action compacted. Minor mistakes such as bumping into
someone may not appear in film. Borrowing books might only occur in films
featuring campus life. Fortunately, Holmes (1990) categorizes the offense type into
six. Firstly, the type of inconvenience relates to actions, which have inconvenienced
the addressee for not providing necessary information or not performing adequately in
a particular context or having providing inadequate service, which inconvenience the
addressee. The second type of offense, Space, refers to the infringement on anothers
personal space, which might occasion apologies. Examples include walking too close
or bumping into someone. The third type is talk, which refers to the act of intruding
the addressees talk or another infringement of the rules of polite talk. Examples like
mispronouncing someones name, or a waiter misunderstand what the customer
ordered. The fourth category is time, which is related to one person wasting another
persons time and the fifth category is possession, which involves damage or loss to
the addressees belongings. And the last type of offense refers to social gaff, which
occurs when the apologizer failed to observe social etiquette rule like burping. To fit
those categories into film data, the inconvenience type needs to be added one more
possibility; that is, the failure to fulfill the addressees expectation, which is the most
common type in romance/comedy movies as shown in example (44) when the
manager could accept Erins job application, who hasnt worked for six years due to
raising babies, and in example (45) where an unexpected pregnancy might disappoint
the addressee. And for the social category, situations like hearing someones death as
shown in example (46) or saluting to the higher status officials in example (26) need
to be included.
(44)
ERIN: You said things would be fine, and they're not.
ED: I'm sorry about that. Really. But -(Erin Brockovich)
(45)
20

Apologies in Film: Implications for Language


Teaching

MARCEE:(explodes) And say what? "Please remove your dick from my ass?!"
Both men look at her. The outburst has surprised even Marcee.
MARCEE: (continuing) I'm sorry. I'm a little pregnant right now.
TIDWELL: I feel like crying. I feel like breaking the room up. (Jerry Macquire)
(46)
DONNA: I know. They're more than a bit unusual. See, two years ago, Pete got
Hodgkin's disease. That's a kind of cancer -ERIN: Yeah, I'm real sorry to hear that.
DONNA: Thank you.
(Erin Brockovich, 1998)
The distribution of type of offense in film data and the use of strategy of each
offense type is shown in Table 5. The Inconvenience type occupies the most
proportion of the offense type (43.7%) with the strategy of IFID (18.3%) and
combination of strategies (25.4%). It is not hard to find that in this convenience type
of various situations, more uses of combination of strategies are used to pacify the
addressees. There was only one occurrence in the category of space as shown in
example (23) due to the fact that invading someones territory or making ones way
through were not considered significant in developing the plot. Thirdly, the talk type
occupied the second highest occurrences in film (26.4%) with a dominant strategy of
IFID (19.3%) as shown in example (47). In film the offense type of talk was often
related to the apology without hearing things clearly or asking someone to repeat a
bit; therefore, one single strategy was enough to account for this minor offense.
Similarly, the third highest offence type was time (22.8%) with comparatively more
uses of IFID (18.8%). Possession offense type occurred much less in film data (2.5%)
than in Holmes New Zealand data (10.9%) (1990: 178). All of those occurrences
were from one movie, Erin Brockovich, which portrayed a woman striving to earn
money to raise her family. In the social guru category, the dominant strategy use was
IFID including Im sorry (2 cases), and excuse me (5 cases). It corresponds to Brokin
and Rinharts (1978) finding about their American data that breaches of social rules
are most likely to elicit Excuse me.
Table 5: Distribution and strategy use for types of offense
Offense Type

IFID

36

18.3%

Combination of strategies

50

25.4%

SUBTOTAL

86

43.7%

0.5%

Inconvenience

Space
IFID

21

Apologies in Film: Implications for Language


Teaching

SUBTOTAL

0.5%

IFID

38

19.3%

Combination of strategies

14

7.1%

SUBTOTAL

52

26.4%

IFID

37

18.8%

Combination of strategies

4.0%

SUBTOTAL

45

22.8%

IFID

1.5%

Combination of strategies

1.0%

SUBTOTAL

2.5%

IFID

4.1%

SUBTOTAL

4.1%

TOTAL

197

100%

Talk

Time

Possession

Social

(47)
DONNA: Erin, this here's Frank Melendez. He works over at the compressor
station
ERIN: I'm sorry. What were you saying?
(Erin Brokovich, 1998)
(48)
ERIN: Settle down? I got 74 bucks to my name, Mr. Marshy! I can't afford to
settle down!
ED: I'm sorry, Erin.
(Erin Brockovich, 1998)
5.4 Who apologize: Gender distribution
Investigation of gender difference is still at an early stage. Olshtain and Cohen
(1983) commented on sex differences between responses to complaints from native
and non-native speakers of English in role-play situations. On the contrary, Fraser
(1981) found in his ethnographical data that women did not offer more apologies than
men, which was contrary to popular stereotype. In film, males made 123 apologies
(63%), which outnumber apologies made by females (37%) (Table 6). This is
especially true when males apologized to females. It could be interpreted that in
romance movies, males were portrayed as polite gentlemen and oftentimes males
would apologize first to their female counterparts in order to maintain close
relationships. This finding confirms Frasers comments that women did not apologize

22

Apologies in Film: Implications for Language


Teaching

more than men did; instead, men even apologize more than women.
Table 6: Gender differences in apologies
Offender

Number

Female-Female

23

11.7%

Female-Male

51

25.9%

Male-Female

70

35.5%

Male-Male

53

26.9%

TOTAL

197

100%

6. CONCLUSION
This study has examined the validity of film language by comparing apologies
in American features films with those in existing literature. Similarities can be
observed from the aspects of dominant use of a single IFID strategy with expression
of regret being the most frequent across situations, and also a predominance
percentage of the syntactic formulae of sorry confirmed by Owen (1983: 66) shown as
follows:
(21) I am (Im) + (intensifier) sorry + that S /to VP/ if S/ about that.
However, there are indeed some minor differences regarding the formulae, apologize,
between intimates, the context when apologies occurred as well as gender
distribution. Despite those differences, apologies in film do reflect a large portion of
real-life situations. Therefore, in teaching students how to apologize, film can be a
good resource, especially for EFL learners who have limited opportunities to interact
with native speakers to gain such pragmatic knowledge. Teachers can make lesson
plans first to arouse students pragmatic awareness first, teach them different
strategies to apologize, ask students to find out what they observe in the film data,
initiate discussions on appropriateness of film language, and even ask students to role
play situation found in film (Appendix C). Film is therefore providing students an
authentic context to know how to behave appropriately in the target culture. In this
way, in addition to training students listening and speaking skills, film can be a good
resource for developing learners pragmatic knowledge.
As for the connection between research and pragmatics, current results do
have a satisfactory parallel finding with previous research. However, the selection of
films and a particular speech act (i.e. complaint, request, thanking) under
investigation might influence the results. For future research, more speech act can be
analyzed as well as a wide variety of film genres, including war, horror, history and
crimes to yield more reliable results. In addition, social aspects of apologies such as
participant relationships, gender distribution as well as responses to apology can be
further explored. This study is only a start inspired by Roses work on compliment in

23

Apologies in Film: Implications for Language


Teaching

film (2001). The observation made in this study might be preliminary; however, it is
hoped that such study is a point of departure to investigate how frequent and
significant phenomenon in film parallel our daily interaction.

24

Apologies in Film: Implications for Language


Teaching

References
Allan, M. (1985). Teaching English with video. London: Longman.
Bardovi-Harlig, K., Hartford, B. A. S., Mahan-Taylor, R., Morgan, M. J., & Reynolds,
D. W. (1991). Developing pragmatic awareness:closing the conversation. ELT,
45, 4-15.
Bergman, M. L., & Kasper, G. (1993). Perception and performance in native and
nonnative apology. In G. Kasper & S. Blum-Kulka (Eds.), Interlanguage
pragmatics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Blum-Kulka, S., House, J., & Kasper, G. (1989). Cross-cultural pragmatics: Requests
and apologies. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
Blum-Kulka, S., & Olshtain, E. (1984). Requests and apologies: A cross-cultural
study of speech -act realization pattterns (CCSARP). Applied Linguistics, 5,
196-213.
Borkin, A., & Rinhart, S. (1978). Excuse me and I'm sorry. TESOL Quarterly, 12(1),
57-69.
Broken, A., & Reinhart, S. M. (1978). Excuse and I'm sorry. TESOL Quarterly, 12(1),
57-69.
Cohen, A. D., & Olshtain, E. (1981). Developing a measure of sociocultural
competence: The case of apology. Language Learning, 31(1), 113-134.
Cohen, A. D., Olshtain, E., & Rosenstein, D. S. (1986). Advanced EFL apologies:
What remains to be learned. International Journal of the Sociology of
Language, 62, 51-74.
Fraser, B. (1981). On apologizing. In F. Coulmas (Ed.), Conversational routine (pp.
259-271). The Hague: Mouton.
Holmes, J. (1989). Sex Differences and Apologies: One aspect of communicative
competence. Applied Linguistics, 10(2), 194-213.
Holmes, J. (1990). Apologies in New Zealand English. Language in Society, 19, 155199.
Holmes, J. (1995). Women, men and politeness. London: Longman.
Kasper, G., & Dahl, M. (1991). Research methods in interlanguage pragmatics.
Studies in second language acquisition, 13(2), 215-247.
Lonergan, J. (1984). Video in language teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
Manes, J., & Wolfson, N. (1981). The compliment formula. In F. Coulmas (Ed.),
Conversational Routine: Explorations in standardized communication
situations and prepatterned speech. New York: Mounton de Gruyter.
Meier, A. J. (1998). Apologies: What do we know? International Journal of Applied
Linguistics, 8(2), 215-231.
25

Apologies in Film: Implications for Language


Teaching

Obeng, S. G. (1999). Apologies in Akan discourse. Journal of Pragmatics, 31, 709734.


Olshtain, E. (1983). Sociocultural competence and language transfer: The case of
apology. In S. Gass & L. Selinker (Eds.), Language transfer in language
learning (pp. 232-249). New York: Newburry House.
Olshtain, E. (1989). Apologies across languages. In S. Blum-Kulka & J. House & G.
Kasper (Eds.), Cross-cultual pragmatics: Requests and apologies (pp. 155173). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
Olshtain, E., & Cohen, A. D. (1983). Apology: A speech-act set. In N. Wolfson & E.
Judd (Eds.), Sociolinguistics and language acquisition (pp. 19-35). Rowley,
Massachusetts: Newbury House Publishers, Inc.
Olshtain, E., & Rosenstein, D. S. (1986). Advanced EFL apologies: what remains to
be learned? International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 62, 51-64.
Owen, M. (1983). Apologies and Remedial Interchanges. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter &
Co.
Rintell, E., & Mitchell, C. (1989). Studying requests and apologies: an inquiry into
method. In S. Blum-Kulka & J. House & G. Kasper (Eds.), Cross-cultural
pragmatics:requests and apologies. Norwood, NJ: Ablex publishing
corporation.
Rose, K. R. (1997). Film in interlanguage pragmatics. Perspectives: Working papers,
Department of English, City University of Hong Kong, 9(1), 111-144.
Rose, K. R. (2001). Compliments and compliment responses in film: Implications for
pragmatics research and language teaching. IRAL, 39, 309-326.
Saville-Troike, M. (1989). The ethnography of communication: an introduction.
Oxford: Blackwell.
Suszczynska, M. (1999). Apologizing in English, Polish and Hungarian: Different
languages, different strategies. Journal of Pragmatics, 31, 1053-1065.
Thomas, J. (1995). Meaning in interaction: an introduction to pragmatics. London:
Longman publishing company.
Trosberg, A. (1987). Apology strategies in natives/nonnatives. Journal of Pragmatics,
11, 147-167.

26

Apologies in Film: Implications for Language


Teaching

Appendix A: List of films


Science fiction
1. AI (2001)
2. Back to the future (1992)
3. Men In Black (1997)
4. Star Wars (2002)
5. The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)
6. The Quest (1994)
Thriller and Action
7. Air Force One (1997)
8. Crimson River (2000)
9. Domestic Disturbance (2002)
10. Gone in 60 Seconds (1999)
11. The Others (2001)
12. The Sixth Sense (1999)
Romance and comedy
13. American pie 2 (2001)
14. American Beauty (2000)
15. As Good As It Gets (1998)
16. Bachelor (1999)
17. Being John Malkovich (2002)
18. Jerry Maguire (1996)
19. My best friend's wedding (1997)
20. Notting hill (1999)
21. Sleepless In Seattle (1993)
22. You've got mail (1998)
Drama
23. Erin Brockovich (1998)
24. Marvin's Room (1996)
25. Pearl Harbor (2001)
26. Titanic (1997)

27

Apologies in Film: Implications for Language


Teaching

Appendix B: Sample apologies


1. David:
Im sorry Mom, please, they will melt you. Im sorry. I shouldnt cut
your hair. Im also sorry. I should not hurt you and Martin.
Monica: Silent.
(AI)
2. GIBBS:
Sir, this plane carries the President of the United States.
KORSHUNOV: Of course. I'm sorry.
GIBBS: Please place your thumbs on the ID pad.
(Air Force One)
3. MARSHALL: Excuse me?
SECRETARY: The fax machines.
MARSHALL: (dismissive) No good. I said they disabled the communications
system.
(Air Force One)
4. Vicky: Friend right??
Kevin: Yes, right. I mean I just . I'm sorry .I am just . used to be .
Vicky: Just friend? Are you sure?
(American Pie)
5. RICKY: Hey, do you party?
LESTER: I'm sorry?
(American Beauty)
6. SIMON: Sorry, didn't know you were awake. I just thought Verdell shouldn't
get too used to sleeping in here cause then..
MELVIN: Look, we both want the dog and
(As Good As It Gets)
7. CAROL: Stop it!! Why can't I have a normal boyfriend??? Why? Get out
of here. Just a regular boyfriend who doesn't go nuts on me...
BEVERLY: (butting in) Everybody wants that, dear it doesn't exit... (as Carol
turn to her) Sorry... didn't mean to interrupt.
(As Good As It Gets)
8. Melvin to Carols son: You should answer when someone talks to you
CAROL: Sorry. There is a limit, Melvin, and I can't handle you teaching my son
manners.
(As Good As It Gets)
9. Carol: The doctors had your billing address. Im sorry about the hour.
Melvin: I was working.. cant you just drop me a thank-you note?
(As Good As It Gets)
10. Melvin: Did you have sex with her?
Melvin: Sorry, didnt realizes she was right there. (a beat) Did you have sex
with her?
Carol: To hell with sex.
(As Good As It Gets)
11. JimmieI'm sorry did you say something to me?
AnnI said I enjoyed having lunch with you.
(Bachelor)
12. Ann You know, the reason why you come up here to propose. You see the
lights of the city and you have a wonderful meal. You listen to beautiful
music and it casts this romantic spell. But when you say "shit or get off
28

Apologies in Film: Implications for Language


Teaching

the pot". All that magic suddenly disappears


And then you have left is bowel trouble
JimmyI'm sorry. I didn't think you'd get upset.
(Bachelor)
13. LOTTE: Sorry, hon. I didn't know Orrin Hatch was out of his pen. Good
morning.
CRAIG: Morning.
(Being John Malcovich)
14. CRAIG: Shut up!
LOTTE: Sorry, honey.
(Being John Malcovich)
15. CRAIG: I'm sorry. How was your evening?
LOTTE: Tom-Tom's puncture wound is infected.
(Being John Malcovich)
16. MALKOVICH: (stopping) I'm sorry, did you just call me "Lotte"?
MAXINE: Do you mind?
(Being John Malcovich)
17. Mrs. Herault: They are threatened, you see, by her face.
Police in Sarzac: Yeah, but sister, look Im sorry.
(Crimson River)
18. Mrs. Herault: The police cant help. There is no power to protect us from demons.
Nothing more can be done for my child. You still have the time. You should
save your own soul. Now please go. I cant go on remembering.
Police: Right, Im sorry.
(Crimson River)
19. Police: Sorry youre involved in this whole case. I feel..
Student: So is it a serial killer, you think?
(Crimson River)
20. Frank: Christ, Danny, what are you thinking?
Danny: I'm sorry okay?
(Domestic Disturbance)
21. ED: Erin -- hi. Sorry you had to wait. Here, sit down, sit down.
He clears a stack of papers off a chair.
ERIN: Thanks a lot. (as she sits) I tell you, I never thought just standing
would take it out of me, but ever since that shithead hit me, it feels
like my whole body's put together wrong.
(Erin Brockovich)
22. ERIN:
Settle down? I got 74 bucks to my name, Mr. Masry! I can't afford to
settle down! (Beat.)
ED:
I'm sorry, Erin.
ERIN: Yeah? Well, fuck you. Sorry doesn't feed my kids. (Erin Brockovich)
23. ERIN: You never called me back. I left messages.
ED: You did? Wow, sorry about that.
(Erin Brockovich)
24. ERIN: Right, but -- I'm sorry, I don't see why you were corresponding with
PG&E about it in the first place.
DONNA: Well, they paid for the doctor's visit. (Erin Brockovich)
25. SUGAR: (smoothly) The best commercial director in the business. I hail you.
29

Apologies in Film: Implications for Language


Teaching

DOOLER: Sorry I yelled. You have exquisite taste.


(Jerry Maguire)
26. JERRY: Who said anything about "loser?" Where do you get this word
"loser?"
AVERY: I'm sorry. I was on a roll. I meant something else. When do you
want to leave?
(Jerry Maguire)
27. PATRICIA LOGAN: Jerry, is it true that Tidwell's had three concussions?
JERRY: I'm sorry... excuse me... (Jerry Maguire)
28. JERRY: I'll get you some quick work
TIDWELL: Good deal, man.
MARCEE: I'm sorry what I said back there.
JERRY: Don't be silly.
(Jerry Maguire)
29. DONNY ASTRICKY (cont'd) "Objects May Appear Closer Than They
Seem." Can you say that for me?
JENNY: I'm sorry.
DONNY ASTRICKY: You ain't sorry. You're a horrible
driver... You can't strap into your seat belt, without almost
getting creamed by a bus ...
(Gone in 60 Seconds)
30. Bessie: Well my name's Bessie.
Dr. Wally: Bessie! Of course, I'm sorry. It's been a bit hectic around here.
(Marvin's Room)
31. Bessie: Excuse me.
Nurse: Don't be surprised if Dr. Wally is late.
(Marvin's Room)
32. DEE: Kay, I'm sorry...
KAY: Don't worry about it.
(Men In Black)
33. Kim: I am being honest. All of a sudden I'm supposed to drop out of schoolforget
my family, forget my career forget the things I had planned?
Michael: Forgive me for screwing up your plans. Glad I heard this before it's too
late.
(My best friend's wedding)
34. Michael: I'm sorry.
KimI'm sorry, too.
(My best friend's wedding)
35. Evelyn: I'm sorry, Lieutenant, I really am. But Army and Navy require 20/20
vision.
Rafe: OhIit's not a problem with my eyes. I can see. I can hit a running rabbit
with a $3.00 pistol. I got a problem with letters, that's all.
(Pearl Harbor)
36. Evelyn: Which at the moment is a long way south of my waist.
Rafe: Oh. I'm sorry. I guess I lost a little altitude.
(Pearl Harbor)
37. SAM: That's what I'm going to do.I n a few months, boom, I'll be fine, I'll just
grow a new heart.
30

Apologies in Film: Implications for Language


Teaching

SUZY: I'm sorry.


(Sleepless in Seattle)
38. Sam: What if something happened to you? What if I couldn't get to you?
Jonah: Sorry. I`m sorry .
39. LUKE: You can't do any more good back there!
WEDGE: Sorry!
(StarWars)
40. HUMAN: He doesn't like you.
LUKE: I'm sorry.
(StarWars)
41. Mom : I'm sorry I was so harsh on you. Can you forgive me? Anne
Anne : ( weak up and didn't say anything ) (The Others)
42. VINCENT: You failed me.
MALCOLM: Vincent... I'm sorry I didn't help you... I can try to help you now.
(The Sixth Sense)
43. MALCOLM: I thought you meant the other Italian restaurant I asked you to marry
me in.
MALCOLM: I'm so sorry. I can't seem to keep track of time. (The Sixth Sense)
44. Mr. Bodine: What, uh... happened next?
OLD ROSE: You mean, did we "do it"? Sorry to disappoint you Mr. Bodine
45. MAN IN OVERCOAT: I am a rabbi.
PATRICIA: Oh, my God, I said fuck to a rabbi. I'm sorry.
MAN IN OVERCOAT: I hope you don't mind my asking, but are you Jewish?
(Youve got mail)
46. KATHLEEN: God, I didn't realize. I didn't know who you -- (she trails off)
JOE: -- were with. (quoting) "I didn't know who you were with."
KATHLEEN: Excuse me?
JOE: It's from the Godfather. When the movie producer realizes that Tom Hagen is
the emissary of Vito Corleone -- (continued)
Kathleen is staring at him.
(Youve got mail)
47. Lex: Im glad you came, Dr. Malcolm.
Malcolm: Im sorry about your grandfather.
(Youve got mail)
48. CARRIE: Thank you. we know one another?
DOBBS: Well, I cant be sure, Miss ?
(The Quest)
49. OPERATOR: I'm sorry, there's no answer.
(Back to the future)
50. George spun around before Marty had a chance to do anything. The sudden
movement causing George's entire tray to slip from his hands and spill
all over his shirt.
GEORGE: Oh God! Excuse me, please!
(Back to the future)

31

Apologies in Film: Implications for Language


Teaching

Appendix C
Learning English Through Movies
By Josephine Huang joehuang@mail.sjsmit.edu.tw
http://www.sjsmit.edu.tw/jo
I.
Introduction:
Films have been used widely as a resource in EFL classes. However, oftentimes it is
used mainly for listening and speaking skills. However, films have potentials for
developing students pragmatic awareness. In this activity, we are going to look at
how people apologize in different contexts in the films chosen by you.
II.
Warm up
Do you know how to apologize appropriately according to the situation you are in?
There are five strategies, two of which are general and three of which are situationspecific.
(1) The first one is to use formulaic expressions containing explicit
performative verbs, such as Im sorry; Excuse me; I regret; I
apologize to explicitly express an apology.
(2) To express responsibility, which reflects the speakers degree of
willingness to admit to fault for the offense. EG: Its all my fault. I
have made a mistake. I shouldnt have done that.
(3) To give an explanation which indirectly cause the apologizer to commit
the offense. For example, the students may say, The bus is late. To
account for the reason being late for class.
(4) To give an offer of repair. The apologizer may seek ways to make up
the loss or provide some kind of payment which results from the
offense. EG. When you failed to return the book to someone you
borrowed, you may say, Ill buy you a new one, or Ill treat you a
lunch.
(5) To promise non-occurrence. The apologizer promised not to allow the
offense to happen again. EG. When you split milk over the carpet, you
may promise you mom that, I wont do that again.
III.
Setting
Now, its your turn to select all of the apology scenes in the movie you choose. You
can choose to work in a group of two or even better, work alone. Choose any tile you
like. Write at least FIVE scenes relating to apology for each movie. If you fail to find
that many, you can see another movie. REMEMBER, the more the better. You need to
do the following:

32

Apologies in Film: Implications for Language


Teaching

CLASS:

NAME:

NO:

Title of the movie:

My best friends wedding.

Time released:

1997

Links

http://plaza18.mbn.or.jp/~happywel/script/mbfw.html

Apology 1
Reason for being sorry

Michael is falling in love with another woman. Julia


seemed to be very upset.

Lines

Julia: Why did you do that to me?


Michael: Sorry, I have no other choice.

Chinese Translation
Apology 2..
Apology 5
IV.
Reflections
After freely exploring, do you know better about this movie now? What have you
learned from this movie? In terms of the activity, what difficulties did you meet? Do
you like this kind of assignment? Why or why not? What do you feel about this
activity?
V.
Vocabulary Learned
RELATED LINKS:
Drew's Scripts-O-Rama Index http://www.script-o-rama.com/table.shtml
(A collection of movie scripts)
The Internet Movie Database http://us.imdb.com/
(16,000 titles with video clips and reviews for class use)

33

Potrebbero piacerti anche