Journal of Asian Pacific Communication - Volume 10, Issue 1, 2000

The speech act of apologising aims at maintaining, restoring and enhancing interpersonal relationships. Most of the existing studies of apology in different languages and cultures follow the Brown and Levinson (1987) approach and describe apology as a ‘negative politeness’ strategy. In this paper, we study the use of apology by two groups of women from Japanese and British cultural backgrounds, in conjunction with an examination of the cultural conception of ‘self’. Using both standard test (Twenty Statements Test, TST) and questionnaire data, we demonstrate that important differences exist in the self concept of the two groups, and these differences are reflected in and impact on the women’s use of apologies in social interaction.

This study investigates politeness phenomena in Chinese service encounters, contrasting the use of facework in two types of service encounters: state-run vs. privately-owned stores. I argue that politeness is a dynamic process, which involves participants’ perception of a social setting and the assumed interpersonal relationship in a given situation. It is shown that social distance and the type of social relationship play an essential role in Chinese politeness behavior and that the use of facework in service encounters signals a change in discursive practice due to social and economic changes in China.

Macau is a 400-year-old Portuguese colony in the Pearl River Delta in southeastern China. Portugal returned the colony to China on 20 December 1999. In light of its history, Macau is an interesting case study of how colonial policies affect adoption of new technologies such as the Internet. Companhia de Telcomunicações de Macau is the only company licensed to provide telecommunications services in Macau. This study examines: (1) the relationship between the Macau government and CTM as an ISP; (2) the relationship between CTM and other Internet companies in Macau; and (3) the relationship between Internet companies and users in Macau.

This study examined how three Manila online newspapers framed the coverage of the 1998 Philippine presidential election. It analyzed election news content (N = 367 stories) in terms of tone of coverage, manner of candidate’s publicity, and the frames used in presenting election news. The results showed positive election news (55%) and favorable (76%) publicity towards the candidates. The dailies used more strategy frames (56%) than issue frames (44%). It was also found that a newspaper can use more in-depth analysis (issue frames) in its coverage and still remain on top of the readership and circulation game. Furthermore, the attribution of the causes and solutions to an issue was not assignedto a candidate but rather to an institution, lending support to Iyengar’s (1991) episodic-thematic framing anal-ysis.

This paper explores a variety of metaphors notably, war, revenge, and a journey of spirituality awakening —used by the 1996 presidential and vice-presidential candidates in Taiwan. It uses the 1996 presidential election rhetoric asa case study to analyze how political ideologies, tactics and strategies are incorporated in metaphors in presidential slogans.It adopts Lakoff & Johnson (1980)’s proposal of metaphor as symbols that orient our perception and influencehow we structure our actions. Kennedy (1998)’s treaties on political rhetoric are introduced as theoreticalbackground for further analysis, following a short sketch of the socio-political context of recent democratic developmentsin Taiwan. Studies of the election rhetoric, its contributions and limitations are then examined. Data for analysis werecollected from newspapers, official memoranda and pamphlets available to the public over the campaign period, roughlyfrom late January to late March in 1996. The results show overlaps and contrasts of metaphorical usage among the foursets of candidates. In conclusion, metaphorical usage not only orients the campaign style of the candidates but also shapesvoters’ perceptions of proposed political ideals.

Putonghua, the official Chinese language of mainland China, has become an intriguing topic for language researchersand teachers in Hong Kong. This study involved 275 Form VI (Grade 12) students in Hong Kong. The twin researchquestions are to investigate the subjects’ general attitudes toward the use of Putonghua in Hong Kong contexts aswell as the learning of the language. The research is qualitative in nature and discusses the data through statistical analysis.The major findings are: (1) on the whole the subjects are instrumentally motivated to learn Putonghua; (2) subjects’learning motivation is related to their political and cultural identity; (3) subjects still give more preference to English overPutonghua; (4) currently it is premature to greatly expand the use of Putonghua in education and other social domainssuch as government affairs. Based on these findings, the paper poses critical comments on Pierson’s study (1991,1998). It seems clear that the spread of Putonghua in Hong Kong lacks a social and psychological support currently. Thespread can occur only on a logical and incremental basis in tandem with a titanic effort to produce qualified, competentlocal teachers in order to teach this target language.

In May 1997, a matched guise test was conducted on 304 college students in Hong Kong, Beijing, and Guangzhou.The stimulus material was presented in 4 guises: Cantonese, English, Putonghua, and Putonghua with Cantonese accent.Major findings: (1) What distinguished Hong Kong subjects’ sociolinguistic identity was not Cantonese, Englishor Putonghua as found in previous studies, but Putonghua with Cantonese accent. In light of Brewer’s (1991)optimal distinctiveness theory, this would suggest parallel needs of “being Chinese” and “beingHongkongers.” (2) Guangzhou was closer to Beijing rather than to Hong Kong in language attitudes. The cuttingboundary appeared between the mainland and Hong Kong, not between Cantonese-speaking and non-Cantonese-speakingcommunities.

Second language acquisition (SLA) researchers have not adequately explored English as a Second Language (ESL)students’ use of English in academic settings other than the language classroom. Social contexts of language learn-ing, such as students’ content course classrooms, affect not only the amount and the type of input learners receive,but also the extent to which learners are able to engage in meaningful real-life communication in the target language. Anincreasing educational concern in American academic settings is some ESL students’ minimization of theimportance of verbal communication in their content courses. To challenge the linguistic explanation of the inability ofESL students to adapt to active oral participation modes in their content courses, this study, by focusing on Asian graduatestudents in different majors in a US university, examined multiple pertinent factors affecting their oral participation modesvia both classroom observations and interviews. Sociocultural, linguistic, cognitive, affective, and pedagogical/environmental factors were found to influence these students’ oral communication in their content courses, withsocio-cultural factors exerting the largest influence on students’ classroom reticence. Directions for further researchare recommended.