COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF SPEECH ACTS OF APOLOGY IN CHINESE AND UZBEK LANGUAGES
Keywords:
apology speech act, linguopragmatics, Chinese language, Uzbek language, intercultural communication, politeness, “face-saving”Abstract
The article examines the lexical and pragmatic features of apology speech acts in Chinese and Uzbek from a comparative perspective. The study aims to identify similarities and differences in the linguistic realization of apologies with consideration of pragmatic and sociocultural factors. The analysis demonstrates that despite sharing a common illocutionary function—namely, expressing regret and restoring communicative balance—the strategies of apology in the two languages differ significantly in terms of explicitness, choice of lexical formulas, and pragmatic orientation. In Chinese, apology strategies tend to be indirect and mitigated, reflecting the cultural concept of “face-saving” and the priority of maintaining social harmony. In contrast, apologies in Uzbek are generally more explicit and are characterized by a high degree of ethical and etiquette-related marking. The findings contribute to the theory of speech acts, intercultural pragmatics and have practical implications for foreign language teaching and translation studies.
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