Akty przeproszenia w polsko- i rosyjskojęzycznych wiadomościach przesyłanych na kartach pocztowych
Speech Acts of Apology in Polish and Russian Postcard Messages

Summary/Abstract: Apologies appearing in postcard texts have not been the subject of linguistic studies so far. Therefore, the aim of this article is to examine and compare the acts of apology in Polish and Russian postcard messages. The conducted analysis concerns the location of apologies in the structure of messages, their pragmatic and formal characteristics, speech acts which co-constitute apology formulas and actions that cause speakers to perform acts of apology. The results of the study show that there are differences between both languages in terms of the number and frequency of acts of apology. It is difficult to clearly indicate the reasons for this state of affairs, but it can be presumed that they should be sought, among others in cultural differences.The fact that Russians use acts of apology less frequently than Poles might be the result of less individual autonomy and greater power distance. Also, differences in the location of acts of apology in the structure of messages and the type of actions that cause senders to apologize have been identified. Moreover, it has been shown that in both languages the senders of apologies are mainly women. The analysis leads to the conclusion that the examined acts of apology are formulaic, which is the result of conforming to the convention of postcard messages.

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