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1、IntroductionWith the development of the world economy, China owns an irreplaceable position in world trade. Business English, as a kind of common language for specific purpose, is an important tool in foreign economic activities. Business correspondence serves as an important intermediary of exchang
2、ing information, building and maintaining harmonious business relationships and doing other business activities. Politeness, as an important criterion in language activities, is a prerequisite to establish a good international relationship. Politeness is also an important characteristic in business
3、correspondence. Under the guidance of the politeness principle, English correspondence can accurately express sincerity and respect, realize effective communication, promote the development of the business activities smoothly, and finally contribute to the business cooperation.In Oxford Advanced lea
4、rners English-Chinese Dictionary politeness is defined as “1.Having or showing that one has good manner and consideration for other people; 2.(typical) of a superior class of society; refined” Politeness, as a universal phenomenon existing in our daily communication and permeating in every aspect of
5、 an individuals life, has drawn a lot of linguists attention. Lakeoff thinks that “politeness is a system of international relations designed to facilitate interaction by minimizing the potential for conflict and confrontation inherent in all human interchange” (Lakeoff, 1973:298). Politeness theory
6、 of Brown and Levinsons was originally published in 1978; they consider politeness as forms of behavior that allow communication to take place between potentially aggressive partners (Brown & Levinson, 1978).Politeness plays such an important role in the whole process of the business communication a
7、nd it is also the essential skill that all businesspersons should master. However, when we look into the writing process of business correspondence in China, we may find that much attention is paid to the informational function rather than the interpersonal function. So in the business English world
8、 the study of politeness is an imperative thing.1. An overview of politeness principlePoliteness, as a public activity existing in a lot of language communities, attracts great attention from the socialists and linguists. Due to the complex nature of politeness, it is very difficult to give a univer
9、sal definition to it. Linguists attempt to explain politeness from different angles and at various levels, thus, leading to a great number of unconnected studies. Fraser reviewed three approaches counting for politeness, including the social-norm view, the conversational-maxim view, and finally, the
10、 face-saving view.1.1. The social-norm view of politeness principleThe social-norm view is one traditional view regarding politeness as the social behavior in any society. According to Fraser (1990) “the social-norm approach has few adherents among current researchers.” This view is about desirable
11、language and behaviors when people make choices in actual language use.1.2 The conversational-maxim view of politeness principleThe Conversational-maxim view provides a set of principles to explain politeness. This view is mainly based on Grices Cooperative Principle. Lakoff and Leech are the two ma
12、in contributors to this view. They produce works similar to that of Grice.1.2.1 Grices cooperative principleAccording to Grice, a conversation takes place smoothly only when the speaker and the hearer totally recognize the rules that lead their language and behaviors, and also have the same reaction
13、 of each others words and acts. In his famous paper Logic and Conversation, Grice proposed that a set of maxims and sub-maxims that guide and limit people language and behaviors. The maxims include quality, quantity, relation and manner, each of which includes one or more sub-maxims, so in a letter
14、participants should know “relevantly, clearly and sincerely, while giving useful information”.1.2.2 Lakoff views on politenessLakeoff is the first researcher to explain politeness with Grices Conversational Principle and she contributes a lot in the development of politeness. She studies politeness
15、from the conversational-maxim point of view, which is, seeing politeness as the avoidance of offence.To be clear and to be polite are Lakoff (1973)s two rules of pragmatic competence. She argues that if the information being conveyed in the communication is noticeable, the speaker will focus on the
16、clarity in a conversation; if not, the speaker will pay much attention to the social position of the hearer and other related factors in the conversation than the clarity.1.2.3 Leechs politeness principlePoliteness principle proposed by Leech is another important theory of politeness. He agrees with
17、 Grices framework of Cooperative Principle but he suggests that it should be improved and expanded. In his opinion, politeness has nothing to do with “pragmatic progress”, but with “the attainment of social goals” (Watts, 1992)1.3 The face-saving view of politeness principle1.3.1 The definition of f
18、aceFace-saving view is based on the rational person, who has certain state in the social communication. The concept of “face” is introduced by Erving Goffman, who defines “face” as the “the public self-image that every member wants to claim for himself” (Goffman, 1967).Based on the notion raised by
19、Goffman, Brown and Levinson have their own face-saving theory. According to them, “face” covers two aspects:(1) Negative face: the want of a person not to be appreciated, understood by others. (2) Positive face: the want of a person that his ideas, achievements, goals, etc. should be desirable to at
20、 least certain others.1.3.2 Face-threatening actsIn order to achieve their particular goal, rational people tend to minimize their loss of face and avoid confliction. However, it is quite likely that some people will act against the hearers willing and threaten their face. Those speech acts are call
21、ed Face-Threatening Acts (FTA) by Brown and Levinson.Brown and Levinson distinguish the face-threatening acts as follows:(1) Those that threaten the addressees negative face want, by indicating(potentially) that the speaker does not intend to avoid impeding the hearer freedom of action, including: o
22、rders and requests, suggestions, advice, reminding, threats, warnings, dares, offers, promises, compliments, expressions of envy or admiration, expressions of strong emotions toward the hearer, e.g., hatred, lust;(2) Those acts that threaten the positive face want of the addressee, by indicating tha
23、t the speaker does not care about the addressees feelings, wants and so on.(3) Those that offend the speakers negative face, including: accepting the hearer s thanks or the hearer s apology, excuses, acceptance of offer, response to the hearer s faux pas, unwilling promises and offers and so on;(4)
24、Those that directly damage the speakers positive face, including: apologies, acceptance of a compliment, self-contradiction, and confessions, admissions of guilt or responsibility and so on.1.3.3 Face-saving politeness strategiesIn order to have a more successful communication and achieve their goal
25、s, people always try to avoid face-threatening acts as mentioned above in the process of communication. But a lot of people have to say or do something undesirable to the hearer, and in these situations politeness strategies are needed to reduce the impact of the unfavorable words and actions.On the
26、 basis of two aspect of negative face or positive face, politeness principle can be classified into three major forms: positive politeness, negative politeness and off-record politeness.(1) Positive politeness is oriented toward the face of the hearers desire, showing that the speaker recognizes hea
27、rers positive face want. Positive politeness strategies include: noticing to the hearers wants, exaggerating interest, intensifying interest, seeking agreement, assert knowledge of the hearer wants, be optimistic, give reasons, give gift to the hearer. (2) Negative politeness is oriented toward the
28、hearers desire to maintain claims of territory. Negative politeness strategies include: being conventionally indirect, questioning, being pessimistic, and giving deference. (3) Off-record politeness refers to the indirect strategies that avoid making any definite or clear imposition on the hearer. B
29、y going off record, there is more than one interpretation of an utterance, so the speaker cannot be held to have done the FTA and the hearers can choose not to understand. This thesis discusses politeness strategies from different aspects, including the social-norm view, the conversational-maxim vie
30、w and the face-saving view. Thus, knowing how to use a language correctly just means being able to assess these values accurately and correlate them with certain language expressions, ways of speaking. The study of politeness principle can contribute to the accuracy of business correspondence.2. An
31、overview of business correspondence2.1 The definition of business correspondenceBusiness refers to all the activities of buying and selling goods and services. To most companies, business letters are the main means of establishing business relations with the outside world. As one of the most popular
32、 means of communication in business activities, business correspondence plays an irreplaceable role in the fulfillment of business communication. Generally speaking, business correspondence can be defined as the correspondence used in business transaction.2.2 Functions of business correspondenceAcco
33、rding to different contents and information, business correspondence has three functions.(1) To influence the readers attitude and action, such as sales letters for promoting products.(2) To inform the readers, such as letters placing orders, making complaints, and giving responses to request.(3) To
34、 entertain readers, such as thank-you letters, that is, to establish good relationships with certain people.According to the long-term role the letters also have three functions.(1) It is one of the best ways to ensure that your message is received, particularly if you are discussing complicated, te
35、chnical or highly detailed information.(2) Business correspondence also serves as a part of a companys permanent record.(3) It is also function as written contracts by the courts.2.3 Classification of business correspondenceBusiness correspondence is widely used in business activities and is influen
36、ced by lots of factors. Usually there are three main ways of classifying business correspondence.(1) According to the content of the letters, business letters have some major types: sales letters, placing an order, request letters, response letters, letters canceling an order, collection letters, ex
37、plaining problems and so on.(2) According to the function, business correspondence includes letters to inform the readers letters to enjoin the readers and letters to influence the readers.(3) According to the message or information appealed in the business correspondence, it includes good-news lett
38、ers, neutral-news letters, bad-news letters and persuasive letters.Routine business correspondence threatens neither the positive nor the negative face of the reader. And most of the business correspondence aims at conveying information other than conducting the reader behavior or criticizing the re
39、ader. This thesis will give a detail expression through several business correspondences.2.4 Importance of politeness in business correspondence Politeness contributes mainly to the interpersonal communication part of business correspondence. That is to say, it helps to create and maintain the frien
40、dly relation between the writer and the reader. Courtesy emphasizes the messages in the good-news letters and lightens the negative information in the bad-news letters, and enhances the cooperative relation between the two parts. On the contrary, if the writer does not pay much attention to the poli
41、teness, the letters may easily be treated as a routine business letters and can not enhance the business relationships. From the above analysis we may see that politeness is one of the basic ways of leading and constraining the business communication. So we should pay much attention to the principle
42、 of politeness.2.5 Methods of showing politeness in business correspondenceIn order to giving people a good business letters, there are some general methods of achieving politeness in business English letters.(1) The writer should use polite words and expressions, such as “thank you”, “would you ple
43、ase”, “please”, “would you like to” etc. whenever necessary.(2) The writer should be considering the readers problems and thoughts. Thus the writer must be very thoughtful.(3) The proper tone is needed in the letters. Before writing the letter, the writer should think about the relationship between
44、the writer and the reader and at last choose the proper tone to express the idea of them.(4) The writer should use a positive attitude during writing the business letters. Taking the positive point of view lays stress on the favorable side of the message, which can help to create the positive climat
45、e and attend to the readers positive face want.These methods of being polite in business English letters can be used in almost all kinds of business letters and they will help us to approach favorable business writing.3. Politeness strategies in business correspondence The previous sections show the
46、 importance of politeness in business correspondence. This section will examine the four major types of business English letters carefully and discusses the application of different kinds of politeness strategies in each of them.3.1 Politeness strategies in good-news letters Good-news letters show f
47、avorable messages to the reader, so it is easy to get a pleased response from the reader. In the good-news business letters, the words showed just what the reader expects, so it is beneficial to the reader. In writing a good-news business letters, the more concrete, the more direct, the more persona
48、l and vivid the language is, the more polite and effective the letters are.3.1.1 Politeness strategies in good-news business correspondence at the word level Using specific words Generally speaking, as the words of the letters are beneficial to the reader, the specific words are better than g
49、eneral words. Specific words give a much vivid and detailed presentation of the words. Thus it helps to develop a great thought in the reader mental world. Using “You” instead of “I” or “We” Treat the reader as if they are sitting next to you. This means that you can call them you rather than
50、 the supplier, or the customer, or the receiver. Likewise use me and us when you are referring to yourself or your organization. Using “you” or using “I” and “we” stand for two different approaches in writing: you-oriented approach and I(we)-oriented approach. You-oriented approach focuses the atten
51、tion on the reader while I (we)-oriented approach focuses on the writer.3.1.2 Politeness strategies in good-news business letters at the sentence level Proper words are the most foundation part of successful communication. But some times words themselves cannot express perfect meanings until they ar
52、e arranged in a sentence. So it is important to learn how to arrange the words and expressions in a letter. There are some useful techniques in the development of the letter. Using short sentences As mentioned previously, the more clearly and direct, the more polite the letter will be. Short
53、sentences contain fewer words and are simple in structure, so it is easier to read and understand. Using short sentences decreases the possibility for the messages to be missed or misunderstood, and guarantees the successful delivery of the messages. Here are some examples:Example (1): We are intere
54、sted in buying a large quantity of Liangmianzhen toothpaste advertized in the July issue of China today.Example (2): All the relevant documents are ready.Example (3): For your first-time order, I want to thank you on behalf of the company.Example (1) is really a brief and simple sentence. In this se
55、ntence, the writer expresses his/her idea in a direct way. Example (2) is telling a piece of good news in a very short and simple sentence without any unnecessary related information. Example (3) is expressing thanks to the reader; the writer uses a prepositional phrase to explain the reason so as t
56、o make the sentence short and effective. Using active voice Using Active voice is the best way in transferring the good messages. Sentences in active voice are clearer and more direct than those in passive voice, which is the requirement of the politeness principle. It can also show the write
57、rs willingness to the reader and consider the readers benefit. For instance:Example (4): We are in receipt of your payment. Example (5): We have received your payment. Example (6): Thanks for sending us your payment. Example (4) uses a noun phrase to state the fact of having received the payment, du
58、ll and without any personal emotion. Example (5) is more natural and forceful, thus is betters than example (4). Example (6) uses the active voice. The tone is natural, friendly and sincere, thus is most likely to get a favorable response from the reader. So, Example (6) is the most politeness one among the three. Using affirmative structures As mentioned above, politeness plays a more important role in a successful business correspondence. In good-news business letters, positive ness can be gained through using affirmative structures. Here, affirmative
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