This paper analyzes apologies in Late Modern English using the COHA corpus. The paper investigates patterns and functions of apology instances, shedding light on historical speech acts and power dynamics.
The Late Modern English period is generally referred to as the period of prescriptivism. Therefore, one can assume that various conversational patterns and speech acts like apologies often were predefined by the royalty and upper classes and meant to fulfil a clear purpose. This purpose usually serves to maintain power structures and hierarchies in society. For example, if a person from the working class misbehaved towards a person from the upper class, oftentimes they were more pressured to apologise and clarify their intentions and willingness to redress their actions than vice versa because the worker was dependent upon the upper-class member as they received their loan from them.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Theoretical Background Defining the Term Apology and Previous Research on Apologies and Finding Speech Acts
3. Analysis
3.1 Data and Methodology
3.2 Results
4. Discussion/Conclusion
4.1 Methodological Issues in Finding, Classifying and Analysing Late Modern English Apology Instances
4.2 Interpretation of the Late Modern English Apology Instances
4.3 Limitations of this Study and Suggestions for Further Research
5. Works Cited
Research Objectives and Topics
This paper examines how effectively the Corpus of Historical American English (COHA) can be utilized to identify and classify apology speech acts within the Late Modern English period, while evaluating these instances against Trosborg’s (1987) categorization model.
- Application of Trosborg’s (1987) apology strategy framework to corpus data.
- Methodological challenges in identifying speech acts and formulating query strings.
- Analysis of hierarchical structures and power dynamics in Late Modern English apologies.
- Evaluation of apology functions, specifically regarding the restoration of social harmony and status.
- Limitations of using large, non-pragmatically tagged corpora for historical linguistic research.
Excerpt from the Book
3.1 Data and Methodology
The data set, more closely the apology instances, are taken from the Corpus of Historical American English (COHA). It includes 475 million words from 1820-2019. For this paper, only the period from 1820-1899 is used because this covers a big part of the Late Modern English period. The main advantages of the COHA are its large size and its balanced genres which entails that researchers in any linguistic field obtain a wide overview. One limitation is that the COHA relies on American English and thus gives no or fewer clues about British English apology strategies in Late Modern English. Generally, next to pragmatically tagged corpora, richer corpus tools for smaller corpora like British historical corpora are yet to be developed and existing tools that would facilitate pragmatic research often are not available for students who intend to use them for their research. At large, the data set is quantitative because various apologies are classified. Considering the functions of the apology instances, such as restoring peace and order, these are also discussed less detailed than would be required of a qualitative analysis.
Summary of Chapters
1. Introduction: Outlines the historical context of prescriptivism and sets the research questions regarding the utility of COHA for identifying apology speech acts.
2. Theoretical Background Defining the Term Apology and Previous Research on Apologies and Finding Speech Acts: Explores fundamental speech act theories from Austin and Searle, and integrates Trosborg’s model of apology strategies.
3. Analysis: Documents the development of query formulae based on performative verbs and presents the statistical distribution of identified apology instances.
4. Discussion/Conclusion: Critically evaluates the methodological obstacles, interprets the usage of specific strategies, and offers suggestions for future research in historical pragmatics.
5. Works Cited: Lists the academic literature and corpora used to support the theoretical framework and methodology.
Keywords
Late Modern English, Speech Acts, Apology Strategies, COHA, Corpus Linguistics, Trosborg, Illocutionary Force, Pragmatics, Prescriptivism, Historical Linguistics, Power Relations, Performative Verbs, Formulaic Expressions, Social Harmony, Speech Act Attenuation
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core focus of this research?
The paper focuses on the empirical identification and classification of apology instances within the Late Modern English period using the Corpus of Historical American English (COHA).
Which theoretical model is used to classify the apologies?
The study utilizes Trosborg’s (1987) model of apology strategies to categorize the findings into distinct functional types such as acknowledgment of responsibility or promise of forbearance.
What is the primary aim of the study?
The aim is to determine how serviceable the COHA is for finding apologies and to analyze how these instances fit into established pragmatic models to reveal the function of apologies during the 19th century.
How were the apologies identified in the corpus?
The author developed specific search formulae based on performative verbs (e.g., "I apologize", "I promise") to extract instances from the COHA, as the corpus is not specifically tagged for pragmatic speech acts.
What does the methodology section cover?
It details the selection of the time period (1820-1899), the limitations of using a non-pragmatically tagged corpus, and the process of manually filtering random samples of 100 instances for 76 final analyzed cases.
Which keywords best describe the research?
The research is best characterized by terms like Late Modern English, Speech Act Theory, Apology Strategies, corpus methodology, and historical pragmatics.
Are there specific power dynamics highlighted in the text?
Yes, the author discusses how apologies served to maintain power structures and hierarchies, noting examples where speakers from lower social classes were under more pressure to formally apologize to upper-class members.
What conclusion does the author draw about the sincerity of apologies?
The author identifies that not all found instances satisfy the sincerity conditions of speech act theory, noting cases where ironic usage or contradictory linguistic elements suggest the apology was not intended to restore social order.
How is the "Formula 1.1: I V" evaluated?
The "I V" formula is identified as the most inclusive search string, generating the highest number of results but posing difficulties in categorization compared to more exclusive, performative-bound formulae.
- Quote paper
- Lisa Thöne (Author), 2022, Late Modern English Apology Instances in the COHA, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.hausarbeiten.de/document/1475445
