Author(s)

Shanshan Xu

Corresponding Author

Shanshan Xu

Abstract

In recent years, a new kind of speech act— making public apologies through the mass media—has caused great concern. Based on the data analysis of some open apologies in English, the great differences in public apology strategies are found from those in daily-life apologies and English public apologies clearly bear their own characteristics. The register theory is applied to help explain those phenomena so as to facilitate a more accurate and comprehensive understanding of the apology speech act, which will, in turn, lead to more successful communications between people.

Keywords

Public apology, Daily apology, Apology strategy, Register.