On apologising in negative and positive politeness cultures Abbreviations figures tables Preface 1. Cross cultural pragmatics 2. The culture specificity of politeness 3. The speech act of apologising 4. Literature review 5. Methodological considerations 6. Data collection 7. Illocutionary force indicating devices: IFIDs 8. Accounts 9. Positive politeness apology strategies 10. On the culture specificity of apologies 11. Conclusion Appendices Notes References Index