The influence of guilt and shame on L1 and L2 apology speech acts in academic contexts

Abstract Guilt and shame play a key role in social interactions, guiding how people evaluate and respond to their own actions and those of others. This study examined whether the language used, specifically first language (L1) or second language (L2), influences perceived feelings of guilt and shame, and how these emotions guide the choice of pragmatic apology strategies. The participants were 58 L1 Korean speakers learning Spanish as an L2 and 57 L1 Spanish speakers learning Korean as an L2. All participants completed a Discourse Completion Task consisting of twelve situations in either their L1 or L2 and then rated their anticipated feelings of guilt and shame. The results showed that while formulaic apologies were consistently employed, cross-linguistic differences emerged in how responsibility was expressed. Korean speakers frequently used self-blame in their L1, whereas Spanish speakers prioritised factual admissions in their L1, and both the Korean and Spanish users combined these patterns in their L2. Regarding emotional intensity, no overall main effect for language was observed. However, when apologising to someone of a higher social status, emotional intensity, particularly shame, was increased when using one’s L1, suggesting that social norms may evoke a stronger emotional connection to one’s L1. Lastly, the only consistent pattern of emotion–strategy associations emerged among Korean speakers, where higher shame predicted the use of explicit strategies in their L1, whereas higher guilt in their L2 predicted a reduced reliance on formulaic apologies. These findings have important implications for theories of bilingual emotion, pragmatic competence, and intercultural communication.