| ABSTRACT | 第4-5页 |
| 摘要 | 第6-8页 |
| ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS | 第8-10页 |
| LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS | 第10-13页 |
| CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION | 第13-17页 |
| 1.1Research background | 第13-14页 |
| 1.2 Research objectives | 第14-15页 |
| 1.3 Significance of this study | 第15页 |
| 1.4 Overall structure of the thesis | 第15-17页 |
| CHPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW | 第17-39页 |
| 2.1 Introduction to apologies | 第17-20页 |
| 2.1.1 Definitions of apologizing | 第17-19页 |
| 2.1.2 Apology speech act | 第19-20页 |
| 2.2 Theoretical foundations | 第20-30页 |
| 2.2.1 Theories of linguistic variation | 第21-23页 |
| 2.2.2 The classifications of apology strategies and offences | 第23-29页 |
| 2.2.3 Brown and Levinson’s theory of Politeness | 第29-30页 |
| 2.3 International and domestic studies on apology | 第30-39页 |
| 2.3.1 Pragmatic studies on apologies | 第30-33页 |
| 2.3.2 Political studies on apologies | 第33-34页 |
| 2.3.3 Sociolinguistic studies on apologies | 第34-39页 |
| CHAPTER THREE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY | 第39-46页 |
| 3.1 Research questions | 第39页 |
| 3.2 Corpus-driven approach | 第39-40页 |
| 3.3 Instrument | 第40-42页 |
| 3.4 Data Collection and Analysis | 第42-46页 |
| 3.4.1 Tools used for data collection and analysis | 第42-43页 |
| 3.4.2 Procedures | 第43-46页 |
| CHAPTER FOUR RESULTS AND DISCUSSION | 第46-77页 |
| 4.1 The overall distributions of apologies | 第46-55页 |
| 4.1.1 Overall distribution of apology across age | 第49-51页 |
| 4.1.2 Overall distributions of apologies across gender | 第51-53页 |
| 4.1.3 Overall distributions of apologies across social class | 第53-55页 |
| 4.2 Variational characteristics of expressions on apology | 第55-73页 |
| 4.2.1 Variational characteristics of apologies across age | 第56-62页 |
| 4.2.1.1 The variations of apology strategies and offences across age | 第56-60页 |
| 4.2.1.2 The variations of apologetic functions across age | 第60-62页 |
| 4.2.2 Variational characteristics of apologies across gender | 第62-68页 |
| 4.2.2.1 The variations of apology strategies and offences across gender | 第62-67页 |
| 4.2.2.2 The variations of apologetic functions across gender | 第67-68页 |
| 4.2.3 Variational characteristics of apologies across social class | 第68-73页 |
| 4.2.3.1 The variations of apology strategies and offences across socialclass | 第68-71页 |
| 4.2.3.2 The variations of apologetic functions across social class | 第71-73页 |
| 4.3 Reasons for the variations in apologising speech act | 第73-77页 |
| 4.3.1 Internal reasons for the variations in apologising across three variables | 第73-75页 |
| 4.3.2 External reasons for the variations in apologising across three variables | 第75-77页 |
| CHAPER FIVE CONCLUSION | 第77-82页 |
| 5.1 Major Findings | 第77-79页 |
| 5.2 Implications | 第79-80页 |
| 5.3 Limitations | 第80页 |
| 5.4 Suggestions for further research | 第80-82页 |
| REFERENCES | 第82-89页 |
| APPENDIXES | 第89-90页 |
