中美政治道歉言语行为对比研究

A Contrastive Study of the Chinese and American Political Apology Speech Acts

本研究以中美政治道歉言语行为真实语料为基础,以文化语用学理论为框架,在综合分析政治道歉的定义、特征、适切条件的基础上,从政治道歉的言外之力明示手段和政治道歉策略的选用两方面探讨了中美政治道歉言语行为的异同。研究结果表明,中国政治道歉话语言外之力指示手段可分为"道歉/歉意"类、"深感不安/内疚"类和"对不起"类三个类别,而美国政治道歉则主要采用"apologize/apology"类、"regret"类、"sorry"类及其他四类言外之力指示手段。针对道歉策略的对比分析揭示了中美两种不同的政治道歉倾向,即中国政治家倾向于构建敢于认错、勇于担责、主动弥补过错的形象,而美国政治家尽管也能承认错误且表现出主动弥补过错的意愿,但在很大程度上表现出的是一种善于对自己的过错进行辩解和无为承诺,但缺乏担当责任的特征。本文进一步从中美文化中政治道歉的内涵、个人主义与集体主义和语境文化三方面对以上差异进行了社会文化动因分析,揭示产生差异的深层次原因,并简要讨论了本研究结果对于增强政治互信,改善国际关系的意义。

Based on the naturally occurring data of the Chinese and American political apology speech acts and a comprehensive analysis of the definition,properties and felicity conditions of political apologies,the current study explores the similarities and differences of the Chinese and American political apology speech acts in terms of the illocutionary force indicating devices and strategies of political apology within the framework of cultural pragmatic theories. The research results demonstrate that the illocutionary force indicating devices( IFIDs) of the Chinese political apologies can be divided into three categories: 'apologize / apology','deep remorse / guilty ' and'sorry'. Whereas,the American political apologies are mainly categorized into four types of IFIDs: 'apologize / apology','regret','sorry 'and others. Two different inclinations of delivering political apologies appear in the contrastive analysis of the two nations' apology strategies. That is,the Chinese statesmen tend to establish an image of committing misbehaviors bravely,taking responsibilities boldly and making restitutions actively. However,although the American statesmen extend admission of mistakes and willingness to render compensation,to a large extent,they are apt to give detailed accounts and explanations for the offense and make inadequate commitment for their faults,lacking the quality of accepting responsibilities. The study probes into the socio-cultural causes of the above discrepancies from the connotation of political apology in Chinese and American cultures,individualism and collectivism and cultural context,reveals the indepth causes of political apology diversities and undertakes a brief discussion on the significance of the current study on enhancing political mutual trust and improving international relations.