The language of apologizing in Lombok, Indonesia

This paper examines the speech act of apologizing in Lombok, Indonesia, based on discourse completion task (DCT) data. In particular, it looks at the type of apology term used, and at the types of upgrading used, in different situations. Comparisons are made with published results of choice of apology term and use of upgrading in other cultures. Some findings include: Lombok Indonesians are shown to prefer requests for forgiveness, and not to use other apology terms. Use of upgrading varies both with nature of offense and with nature of relationship, but little difference is seen between genders. Where difference does occur, males proved more likely than females to use solidarity oriented upgrading. Patterns in the use of upgrading sometimes paralleled those found in other studies: deference strategies were used with higher status addressees, while solidarity strategies were used with social intimates. However, often usage reflected particular conventions of Lombok Indonesian society, and could not be explained in terms of the same factors as had proved relevant in other studies.