Apology Strategies in Central Kurdish

392 Pages·2014·19.83 MB·English

Apology Strategies in Central Kurdish with
Reference to English: An Empirical Study in
Socio-Pragmatics

A Thesis submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy
in Linguistics

Fareeq Ali Hassan

School of Linguistics and English Language
University of Wales Bangor, UK
2014
Right Actions in the future are the best
apologies for bad actions in the past
(Tryon Edwards)

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Dedicated to:
 The memory of my late father
 My mother
 My wife and children: Mawa, Haroon, Naba and Muhammed

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Acknowledgement
I would like to convey my gratitude to my former supervisor, Professor Jenny Thomas,
for her academic guidance before retiring. My sincere gratitude is extended to my
supervisor Dr June Luchjenbroers for undertaking my thesis supervision; for her
guidance and support to continue and finalise my work. Without her guidance it
would have been difficult for the current thesis to exist. I also express my gratitude to
Professor Vyvyan Evans for his support and assistance during his time as Head of
School. I also thank the School of Linguistics and English Language at the University of
Wales, Bangor for all of their support.
I express both my thanks and my apologies to my family for their moral
support and for their patience during the completion of the Work which distracted me
from them. I should not forget to thank my mother and my in-laws who prayed for me
during my study. I would also like to convey my gratitude to my brother Adil Hassan,
who was of great support during the data collection in Iraqi Kurdistan.
My thanks are also extended to all of the participants who gave their time for
free during the process of the data collection. Finally, I would like to express my
gratitude to all those who wished me luck and success in my study.

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Abstract
This thesis explores the apology strategies in Central Kurdish. It sheds light on
analysing the data collected with the discourse completion task (DCT) from 120
Kurdish subjects in the Garmian region in Iraqi Kurdistan, supported by 24 interviews
and triangulated by 44 observed real situations. The participants are divided by
gender into 60 males and 60 females in the DCT data; 12 males vs 12 females in the
interview data and 11 females vs 33 males in the real observed situations. The results
show the use of similar apology strategies by both gender groups over the situations,
but with proportionally different frequencies, except in certain situations due to
gender differences. In addition to gender as a striking social variable in Kurdish
culture, the study also explores the significance of age and social status of the subjects
in conceptualising apology acts. The study also displays the effect of the apology
recipient’s social features on the subjects’ conceptualisation and their obligation to
apology. The clear significance of the apology supporting sub-strategies is also
revealed in the study.
The findings of the study are not consistent in many cases to those of other
researchers, mainly Western ones, with regard to the effect of gender and the use of
responsibility strategy as an essential strategy in English and some other cultures.
Importantly, the study shows the collective features of the Kurdish culture which
make them apologise differently, in certain situations, from other cultures.
Furthermore, the study demonstrates that the diversity of the apology strategies is
based on the nature and severity of an offence that can vary according to the social
norms prevailing in the Kurdish culture.

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List of Contents
Chapter One
1.1 Introduction ………………………………………………………………………………………………... 1
1.2 Significance of the Study ……………………………………………………………………………… 2
1.3 Rationale of the study ………………………………………………………………………………… 3
1.4 Structure and Organisation of the Study ……………………………………………………… 4
Chapter Two
Literature Review ……………………………………………………………………………………………… 6
2.1 Introduction ………………………………………………………………………………………………….6
2.2 Overview of Politeness and face Theories ……………………………………………………… 6
2.2.1 Goffman’s notion of face …………………………………………………………………...7
2.2.2 Lakoff’s Theory of Politeness ………………………………………………………...…10
2.2.3 Brown and Levinson’s Politeness Theory ………………………………………. 11
2.2.4 Fraser and Nolen’s Conversational Contract Approach …………………… 20
2.2.5 Leech’s politeness principle ……………………………………………………………. 21
2.2.6 Spencer-Oatey’s Rapport and Rapport Management …………….………….. 23
2.2.7 Scollon and Scollon’s Face Model ……………………………………………………. 25
2.2.8 Eelen’s Politeness Approach (politeness 1 and Politeness 2) .....………....26
2.2.9 Watt’s Politic Behaviour and Relational work …………………..……………...28
2.2.10 Haugh’s Intercultural Politeness Theory ……………………………………….. 29
2.3 Re-approaching Face in connection with relational work ………………………………. 31
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