In line with interlanguage pragmatics research on cross-cultural differences of speech act realization and L2 learners' acquisition of these speech acts (e.g., Cohen & Olshtain, 1981, 1993), the present study examines (1) the characteristics of apologies produced by native speakers of Japanese (the J1s) and American English (the E1s), (2) the characteristics of Japanese learners' apologies in terms of L1 transfer and difficulties, and (3) proficiency effects that become apparent between intermediate (the J2Ls) and advanced learners (the J2Hs). Apologies are chosen because an L2 speaker might face greater risk of miscommunication in apologizing.
The participants of this study are: 20 J1s, 13 J2Ls, 11 J2Hs, and 24 E1s. The transcripts of three role-plays in which they played an apologizer and the researcher played an apologizee were analyzed in terms of the apology strategies.
The results show that the J1s produced more "account" and "comment" statements than Americans. Also, the J1s often prolonged their apology despite the apologizee's forgiveness. The J2Hs often approximated the J1s, but in some features, they were not yet exactly like the J1s. For instance, the J2Hs produced an "explicit apology" as approximately as frequently as the J1s did, but the J2H's quality of apology expressions were not yet native-like. Also, the J2Hs were much lower than the J1s in using such features as the adverbial jitsuwa "actually" and a completive aspect marker VERB-TE shimau, both of which show the speaker's regret. The J2Hs did not strengthen their apologies as much as the J1s did by insisting on giving remedy or by prolonging their remedial work even after forgiveness. The J2Ls performed rather poorly.ĘThere were suspected cases of the J2L's and J2Hs' negative transfer from their L1, having higher percentages in producing such statements as an "explicit acknowledgement," an "apology preface," and a "neutral account."