Pragmatic Study of Apology Strategies in Romanian

Abstract

The aim of the present study is to examine the types of categories that Romanian speakers use to apologize in situations that require interaction among friends, as well as how these categories combine to form apology strategies. A survey containing ten situations taken from the TV show "Friends" that required an apology was administered to 158 students studying at a university in Romania. The findings have shown that Romanian speakers prefer explicit expressions of apology. Insofar as the combination of basic categories is concerned, the findings show that an overwhelming majority of the apologies were combinations rather than standalone categories. Also, the subjects had a preference for minimizing or denying responsibility rather than acknowledging it. The qualitative analysis of the data has also shown that the respondents not only tried to save their own face in their apologies, but also were concerned with maintaining their friendship with the hearer.