Heritage-etal2019

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Heritage-etal2019
BibType ARTICLE
Key Heritage-etal2019
Author(s) John Heritage, Chase Wesley Raymond, Paul Drew
Title Constructing apologies: Reflexive relationships between apologies and offenses
Editor(s)
Tag(s) EMCA, Conversation analysis (CA), Social interaction, Apologies, Accounts, Social relations, Accountability
Publisher
Year 2019
Language English
City
Month
Journal Journal of Pragmatics
Volume 142
Number
Pages 185–200
URL Link
DOI 10.1016/j.pragma.2019.01.001
ISBN
Organization
Institution
School
Type
Edition
Series
Howpublished
Book title
Chapter

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Abstract

Goffman (1971) proposed that apologies are, or at least should be, proportional to the offenses they are designed to remediate. In a previous quantitative study (Heritage & Raymond 2016), we found mixed support for such a principle of proportionality. The present article aims to unpack some of the difficulties encountered in that largely positivistic analysis, by adopting a constitutive approach to the design, deployment, and negotiation of apologies in sequences of interaction. We begin by examining cases of self-correction, in which participants can be seen to be orienting to the (in)appositeness of apology formulations to deal with particular offenses. We then offer an in-depth comparison of two cases involving what is ostensibly the ‘same’ virtual offense, but in which the stance of the apologizer in each is quite different. After discussing three possible approaches to the divergence between these two cases, we conclude by arguing that the principle of proportionality is best conceived of as a normative structure to which participants orient even in the context of departing from it, thereby providing for its maintenance. Data come from everyday conversation amongst American and British speakers of English.

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