On the Embodiment of Communicative Rhetoric in Business English 论交际修辞在商务英语中的具体体现.doc

学士学位论文 论文题目:论交际修辞在商务英语中的具体体现院(部)名 称: 外国语学院 学 生 姓 名: xxx 专 业: 英语语言文学 学 号: 200xxxxx 指导教师姓名: xxxx 论文提交时间: 论文答辩时间: 学位授予时间: 北方民族大学教务处制on the embodiment of communicative rhetoric in business english byxxxxxxxxsubmitted to the school of foreign languages and cultures xxxx university of xxxxxxx in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the bachelor degree of arts in englishunder the supervision of instructor xxxxxapril 2012acknowledgments to begin with, i want to express my heartful thanks to all the teachers who had taught me over the four years and my dear friends who has been supporting me all the time. du juan, my supervisor, spared no time and energy, out of her heavy load of teaching and research commitments, to provide substantial guidance on my thesis. during the preparation of this paper, the detailed advice and directive help from her have been both academically authoritative and generous. by this opportunity i want to thank her for giving me directions on analyzing the specific application of communicative rhetoric in business english context.i am also very obliged to all the authors who have made great contribution to the research and study of both communicative rhetoric and business english. without their achievements and works, this paper would be like water without a source and would lose its convincement and credibility. at last, i would like to extend my heartfelt appreciation to my good friends, roommates and classmates who offered their generous help and support to me whenever i met some troubles both in study and in life. taking this opportunity i want to express my love to them; and sincerely i wish we can maintain our friendship lifelong. certainly, there would be something unsatisfactory and neglected by the author in my paper. therefore, any comments and criticisms are appreciated.abstractcommunicative rhetoric, as a branch of english rhetoric, has developed rapidly in recent years with the development of modern english rhetoric. it was ordinarily analyzed at lexical accuracy, syntactical meticulousness and contextual appropriateness by academics. later on, it has extended its scope of study, combining itself with various branches of learning such as pragmatics, semantics and psychology. considering that business english emphasizes on the brevity, accuracy, propriety and effectiveness of expressions, it can be found that communicative rhetoric and business english seek almost the same expressive effect. however, to combine the former and the latter has failed to gain much attention from english learners. therefore, this paper would mainly discuss the embodiment and specific application of communicative rhetoric in business english context from the aspects of lexicology, syntactic and context.the ultimate purpose of studying rhetoric devices in business english context is for better application of the latter and thus benefiting from it. considering this, the author is going to analyze the expressive effect from perspective of the expected effect of business english at the lexical, syntactical and contextual levels. as a conclusion of the whole thesis, it has two purposes: provide and analyze practical application of communicative rhetoric in business english and summarize the theoretical guidance of it, with qualitative analysis mainly being applied. key words: communicative rhetoric, business english, embodiment, application 中 文 摘 要 作为英语修辞的分支，交际修辞随着现代英语修辞学的发展近年来也得到了迅速的发展。人们通常从词法的精确性、句法结构的严谨性和语境适体性这三个层面对它进行分析。稍后，人们又把它同语用学、语义学、心理学等其他学科结合起来进行探究，扩大了交际修辞的研究范围。考虑到商务英语注重表达的见解、精确、得体及有效，可以发现它与交际修辞追求着共同的表达效果。然而，将两者结合起来进行分析研究却未引起广大英语学者的注意。 对此，文中将主要从词法、句法和语境这三个方面来讨论交际修辞在商务英语语境中的具体体现和应用。当然，研究商务英语中修辞手段的最终目的是为了更好地服务于商务英语的实际应用并从中受益。所以，本人将从商务英语应用预期效果出发，分别在词汇，句法和语篇的层面上来分析二者结合所产生的表达效果。总结而言，本文欲达到以下两个目的：提供并分析交际修辞在商务英语中应用实例；总结其理论指导意义。本文主要采用了定性分析法。关键词：交际修辞， 商务英语， 体现， 应用contentsacknowledgements.i abstractii中文摘要.i.introduction.1ii. literature review.2.characteristics of business english3. specific study and analysis of communicative rhetoric in business english.6 4.1 at the lexical level.6 4.1.1 jargons .6 4.1.2 acronyms.74.1.3 archaisms8 4.2 at the syntactical level.9 4.2.1 simple sentence and complex sentence.9 4.2.2 active voice and passive voice.10 4.2.3 loose sentence, periodic sentence, and balanced sentence11 4.3 at the contextual level12 4.3.1 problem-solving pattern.12 4.3.2 whole-parts pattern.134.3.3 compare-contrast pattern.14. conclusion.16 references.18i. introductionwith the development of economic globalization, business english is playing an indispensable role in business activities in todays world. however, people are likely to have a misconception, i.e., the text of legislation, science, technology and business are irrespective of literature and art, hence no concerning of rhetorical devices and beauty. to this misconception, liu miqing, a famous translation theoretician of the day, points out that language accompanies beauty all the time. a writer needs techniques to express in a brief, accurate and proper way, even though it is only a notice that is being written. (liu, 2009)in the category of humane tradition, english rhetoric may be subdivided into communicative rhetoric and aesthetic rhetoric. the former is what mr. chen wangdao, the master of modern rhetoric of china, referred to as passive rhetoric, and the latter active rhetoric（ma, 2006:3）. communicative rhetoric lays particular stress on lexical accuracy, syntactical meticulousness and contextual appropriateness so as to bring its linguistic communicative role into full play, while aesthetic rhetoric is the application of specific rhetorical devices. for effectiveness, both communicative rhetoric and aesthetic rhetoric can be employed by means of logical thinking. it is evident that aesthetic rhetoric is used in certain business english context. nevertheless, this paper discusses mainly about the embodiment and specific application of communicative rhetoric in business english. the paper consists of five parts. the first part is a brief introduction to the background of this study. the second part is a literature review, which introduces the development and status quo of communicative rhetoric study. the third part introduces the characteristics of business english. the forth part is the specific study and analysis of communicative rhetoric in business english. abundant examples are given at different levels in this part. the last part is a conclusion.ii. literature reviewit is universally acknowledged that rhetoric originated in greece. about 24 centuries ago, during the time of aristotle (383-322 b.c.) in greece, rhetoric was considered to be one of the few important branches of learning. it was aristotle who was the first one to define rhetoric as the art of persuasion. so he was regarded as the father of rhetoric by later generation. however, for ancient greeks and romans rhetoric was only the art of persuasion through effective techniques of argumentation. in medieval and renaissance times the emphasis of rhetoric fell upon the more decorative aspect of discourse, so that rhetoric came to mean elegant discourse.the modern world still shows certain effects of that sense of the term, but the study of rhetoric today is, at least in school, the study of composition-the principles of speaking and writing. in the meantime rhetoric has extended its scope of study, combining itself with various branches of learning such as psychology, sociology, anthropology, semantics, linguistics, aesthetics, etc. the prevailing view about the purpose of rhetoric is to express oneself well and to communicate effectively in order to secure a desired result by employing rhetorical means efficiently (tan, li, 2006:4). by appearance, rhetoric is mysterious and unfathomable, but in fact, it is so common that one uses it consciously or unconsciously. when abraham lincoln said in his speech “you can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time”, he certainly used rhetoric.traditionally, people consider a figure of speech (simile, metaphor, metonymy, parody, paradox, etc) to be rhetoric; some hold that an effective and artistic device in expression is rhetoric: the choice of words, the choice of sentences, and the switch of different linguistic codes all these are in the scope of rhetoric in modern english. here follows the definitions of rhetoric: longman modern english dictionary defines it as “the art or science of communication in words; this art or science practiced or taught as a formal discipline, esp. the doctrine formulated by aristotle and taught through the middle ages; over ornate or ostentatious languages.”cambridge international dictionary of english defines rhetoric as “speech or writing which is intended to be effective and persuasive or (specialized) the study of the ways of using language effectively”.brooks and warren in modern rhetoric pointed out “rhetoric is the art of using language effectively.” today, rhetoric is regarded as a science of heightening linguistic effective expressions, and the art of effective communication (tan, li, 2006:4). it is classified, by some linguists, as communicative rhetoric and aesthetic rhetoric. to communicative rhetoric, this paper employs most definitions and viewpoints from an introduction to english rhetoric edited by tan xianmei and li yang, in which rhetoric of words, sentences, paragraphs and discourse are explicitly introduced and analyzed. to explore the embodiment of communicative rhetoric in business english, this paper mainly takes business english rhetorical art or techniques contemplated in the light of various theories as reference. the author of this book, prof. li taizhi, has been concentrating in studying the rhetorical art in business english for many years. in this book, he discusses and analyses the business english rhetorical art in lights of phonetics, lexics, syntactics, text linguistics, etc. in the view of the author of this paper, the viewpoints and contents in the book of prof. li are both meaningful and instructive to people who are and are willing to be engaged in foreign business activities. however, it may be a bit too broad to beginners. therefore, the author of this paper will discuss communicative rhetoric in business english context from three aspects: lexical accuracy, syntactical meticulousness and contextual appropriateness in specific. iii. characteristics of business englishbusiness english, according to jones & alexander, is “english for business”, or “english used in business contexts”. (alexander, 1994) it belongs to the area of functional language. to be more specific, it includes business correspondence, synopsis of minutes, legal documents, memoranda (notes), specification, commercial advertisement, notice, business report or speech, business newspaper and journal article, agreement or contract and all kinds of bills and forms. therefore, business english, on one hand, shares the linguistic features of common english, and also enjoys its own characteristics in lexics, syntactics and discourse style. just as mark ellis and christine johnson (2002:9) in their work teaching business english asserted: “therefore there is a preference for clear, logical thought emphasized by the kinds of words that indicate the logical process (for example, as a result, for this reason, in order to). there is often a need to be concise-particularly when communicating by a fax or telephone-and certain familiar concepts may be expressed in word clusters to avoid circumlocution (for example, cash with order, just in time delivery). certain terms have evolved to save time in referring to concepts which people in business are familiar with (for example, primary industry, parent company). many of these are acronyms (for example, cif and fob).” in china, professor li taizhi (li, 2006: 58) put forward comparatively systematic viewpoints about the features of business english at three levels as shown below: 1) at lexical level: specialized vocabulary, terminology and semi-specialized vocabulary are frequently used. 2) at syntactic level: simple sentence and complex sentence are commonly seen. loose sentence, periodic sentence and balanced sentence take place by turn. polite formula and passive voice are quite often to see. 3) at context level: in general, business english context in a whole has a tendency to use persuasion and illustration due to its essence of practical writing. while in specific, business english contexts prefer certain developing modes. they are problem-solving pattern, whole-parts pattern, compare-contrast pattern, grade pattern, time/space pattern, etc.iv. specific study and analysis of communicative rhetoric in business english 4.1 at the lexical levellanguage communication is impossible without words. to express ones idea or feeling properly, he/she must pay attention to lexical rhetoric, which jonathan swift, a english master of prose, had summarized incisively as “proper words in proper places”. it has been mentioned that specialized vocabulary, terminology and semi-specialized vocabulary are frequently used in business english. specialized words and terms can avoid tedious explanation the principle of economy， and archaisms can make people look more professional and well-educated when the relation between the two parties is not yet close enough. therefore, this section will mainly discuss jargons, acronyms and archaisms in the following.4.1.1 jargonsjargon means speech or writing used by a group of people who belong to a particular trade, profession, or any other group bound together by mutual interest. it has its own set of words and expressions, which may be incomprehensive to an outsider. (ma, 2006:45) there are many jargons in business english which looks like common words and phrases in appearance, while in fact quite different in meaning. look at the examples: the buyer is trying to find fault with the seller and make market claim. the company made good the damage it had done. to market a product for a producer on a worldwide or regional basis is what myrrh does best.the above three italicized word and phrases are business jargons. the first make market claim means making a claim maliciously, which could be inferred from “trying to find fault”. the second made good here refers to “refund or compensate for”, a big difference to its original meaning. the third market is used as a verb to promote sales, not the noun commonly seen. there are also many conventionalized speeches which are adopted by business people for long time, thus becoming fixed expression. for example:we only accept payment by confirmed, irrevocable letter of credit available by draft at sight for the full amount of the invoice value and that it should be established in our favor and reach us one month ahead of shipment, remaining valid for negotiation for another 21 days after the prescribed time of shipment and allowing partial shipments and transshipment. this paragraph is commonly seen in business english when the payment term is discussed. such highly conventionalized expressions or say, jargons, occupy a large proportion in all kinds of business activities. therefore, it is essential to master them to serve ones purpose in the most proper and right way. otherwise, misunderstanding may be caused and loss in consequent. 4.1.2 acronymsacronyms are words formed from the initial letters of the several words that make up the name of something. along with the booming international business activities, business people now prefer fax, telex, cable and e-mail because of their fastness and convenience. all these electric devices require the conciseness and briefness of the content delivered, hence the popularity of acronyms. acronyms exist in different business english contexts. take the followings as examples: 1). specification: f.a.q. (fair average quality) g.m.q. (good merchantable quality) 2). price: fob (free on board) cif (cost insurance and freight) cfr (cost and freight) 3). shipping documents: b/l (bill of lading) a.w.b. (air way bill) c.t.d. (combined transport documents) 4). insurance: fpa (free from particular average) wpa (with particular average) ar (all risks) tpnd (theft, pilferage and non-delivery) 5). payment: l/c (letter of credit) cad (cash against documents) d/p (documents against payment) t/t (tel