Apologies –The Montenegrin way of dispreferred

The paper investigates the pragmatics of apologies in Montenegro; it claims that two broad groups could be identified: 'to say is to do' and 'to do is to say'. Apologies are highly conventionalised with a wide range of verbal and non verbal (emotional) redressive devices. The variety of illocutions, partly due to the compensating phrase, has showed that apologising in Montenegro is a normal part of the social register insofar as it is not face threatening. But being highly FTAs, apologies for Montenegrins are more power-related than politeness related. It turns out that the universality of politeness comes second to the universality of power. Generally, they constitute dispreferred seconds