Apologies as illocutionary and social acts

The present paper proposes to provide a framework in which both theoretical and empirical studies of apologizing are reanalyzed, while different aspects of the act of apologizing are clarified. First, how each discipline or sub-discipline of the studies of apologies conceptualizes the act of apologizing is explained, and what aspect each tries to capture is discussed. Then a framework of speech acts is presented, in which different conceptions of apologies are properly placed and their relationships are clearly specified. Finally, politeness, gender, and cross-cultural diversities are discussed within the proposed framework