著者

谷口 龍子

出版者

国際基督教大学

雑誌

国際基督教大学学報. II-B, 社会科学ジャーナル (ISSN:04542134)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.61, pp.189-201, 2007-03

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Apology and thanking are the speech acts performed in relative frequency in daily encounters, and each act possesses their own distinctive features. This study examines typical expressions of apology and thanking in Chinese language from the perspectives of subject-expression relation and discourse function. Many of the previous studies on the topic feature English usage in their analysis of speech act. However, in the case of Chinese, the utterance of the expressions of apology and thanking does not necessarily translate as the accomplishment of the act. With this in sight, this paper aims at analysing expression, subject, and discourse function of apology and thanking in Chinese languages. Similarity and difference in the corresponding expressions in Chinese, Japanese, and English are examined with references to the existing studies, together with film and TV drama scripts and the transcripts of recorded conversations as data sources. "Buhaoyisi", a Chinese expression concerning the loss of "face" which is customarily translated 'I am embarrassed', shares functional similarity with Japanese word, "sumimasen", as both expressions are commonly employed to convey "the speaker's gratitude towards the listener in situations that require apology or thanking. However, the underlying rhetoric of the apology/thanking continuity in these expressions shows considerable difference; with "buhaoyisi", it is the assessment on the "face" of the speaker alone that supports its function, while with "sumimasen" it is the duplexity of the gain and loss between the speaker and listener. In other words, "buhaoyisi" is self-oriented in a sense that its intended function is derived from the admittance of the speaker's own loss of "face", while "sumimasen" is other-oriented and derives its function from the acknowledgement of the listener's loss of convenience etc. as the speaker's gain. Chinese expressions of thanking often appear as part of the request-making discourse, or as response to the consenting reply; thus, thanking is made in anticipation of the listener's future conduct. This kind of use suggests the speaker's intention for reducing the chance of being declined. Chinese thanking expression also function as the ending mark of conversation or text. "Xiexie hezuo" (meaning 'thank you for your cooperation') that appear at the end of the notices and Bulletins in Taiwanese public and commercial quarters may be interpreted as a sign of ending as well as an expression of gratitude to accompany requests. The self-orientation and the continuous apology/thanking spectrum found in the rhetoric of "buhaoyisi" reveals the inadequacy of the present theoretical framework based on the binary concept on apology and thanking as prevalent in European languages. Also, the comparatively high frequency of the appearance of thanking expressions in comparison to apology-making expressions suggests that thanking expressions bear complex functions to accomplish multiple tasks in Chinese. Our next step would be an attempt to establish a new theoretical framework on apology and thanking through further study on the expressions concerned and their pragmatic functions in details.