Responsibility and Culpability in Apologies: Distinctive Uses of “Sorry” versus “I'm Sorry” in Apologizing

Abstract

In this paper, we address the distinction, existing in certain particular apologetic environments, between the usages of Sorry and I’m sorry. These expressions are treated by Robinson (2004) as equivalent and listed as markers of explicit apologies. We first discuss the analogous uses of the two; then, we examine the distinctive environments in which they proportionally differ (Heritage & Raymond, this issue). Particularly, we focus on extensive apologetic sequences initiated by I’m sorry apologies. We found that these are characterized by several aspects (detailed explanations, intensifiers, recycling of the apology), which make affiliation - as regards both its exhibition from the speaker, and its attainment from the recipient- as a relevant aim, more than the clearance of the offense. We eventually propose an alternative meaning of the increase in agency that is encoded in the pronoun I (in the case of I’m sorry), which foreground the apologizer as a subject of the experience of culpability, beside the actor ascribing himself the responsibility for the offense