（英语语言文学专业论文）商务谈判中礼貌的语用研究.pdf

ma thesis ningbo university i 商务谈判中礼貌的语用研究 摘摘 要要 将礼貌理论用于各种文体的语言分析是近些年来中西方语言学家所致力于研究的 课题。但是很少有人将礼貌理论和商务谈判语言相结合，从而分析其功能和应用。商 务谈判以经济目的为中心并围绕价格展开，谈判人员既要为己方争取优越条件，又要 兼顾对方的利益，保证谈判的效率，为谈判交际目的服务的礼貌语言因而也呈现出其 在商务谈判中独有的特点和规律。本文拟运用语用学的礼貌理论，在收集到的大量谈 判语料的基础上，采用定性分析方法，对商务谈判语言中的礼貌性进行阐释，旨在发 现其在谈判语言上的语用规律。全文分五个部分： 第一章，作者交代了写作目的和整篇论文的结构布局。第二章，作者概括了前人 对礼貌理论的研究。第三章，作者从词汇、句法、篇章三个角度，对商务谈判中礼貌 在语言上的实现做了全面分析，指出称谓、语气、无人称句、婉转表达、模糊表达、 反馈语等等语言现象在特定的场合可以发挥出其内在的礼貌特点，起到为谈判目的服 务的作用。第四章为实例分析，作者把谈判分为三个阶段：初始阶段、交锋阶段和协 议阶段，并指出礼貌在不同阶段的表现。在初始阶段，运用礼貌策略来营造友好的气 氛是关键；在交锋阶段，礼貌策略用来避免僵局的发生；在协议阶段，则礼貌策略旨 在为建立一种长期合作的关系。第五章，作者总结了礼貌语言在谈判中的功能。指出 礼貌语言在谈判中不仅是交际方式，更是一种谈判的策略和手段。礼貌策略可以用来 表达对对方的重视、赞美和谢意，体现合作的诚意，可以融洽尴尬气氛，为自己留有 周旋余地，甚至可以巧妙地拒绝对方不合理的要求，从而使谈判人员既实现了己方的 经济目的又与对方建立长期友好的合作关系。第六章，在对商务谈判语言的礼貌特点 作了全面、具体的分析后，作者指出了社会原因，人际关系和文化因素会在一定程度 上影响礼貌的实现。最后是论文的总结。 关键词：礼貌；商务谈判；语用学；策略关键词：礼貌；商务谈判；语用学；策略 ma thesis ningbo university ii a pragmatic study of politeness in business negotiations abstract this thesis explores the communication practice of politeness in business negotiations. a variety of sample discourses are chosen for analysis, which covers a wide range of business details in business negotiations. this thesis argues that, in negotiations, language operates at two levels: the literal level and pragmatic level. in business negotiations, politeness in the pragmatic level can be intended, conveyed and perceived through literal expression. the linguistic realization of politeness theory in business with regard to lexicon, syntax and discourse has been analyzed in the case study, with brown and levinsons mode of politeness theory as underlying principles. we also make an in-depth look at the communication process of business negotiations. this thesis is composed of seven chapters: chapter 1 is devoted to the introductory scenario about the thesis. chapter 2 provides a critical overview of how scholars approach an account of politeness: lakoffs rules of politeness, leechs principles and maxims, goffmans notion of face, brown politeness; pragmatics; strategy ma thesis ningbo university - 1 - 1 introduction 1.1 subject of the thesis this thesis is an attempt to study the linguistic realization of politeness theory in business negotiations. my main purpose is to highlight some of the approaches with which businessmen make use of the available linguistic system in their day-to-day negotiation communication and to provide a linguistic account of actual business conversations before the functions of politeness negotiation are summarized. as many authors have pointed out that an important macro-function of language is the effective management of relationships. in linguistics, this perspective on language use has been explored extensively within politeness theory. the point that should be illustrated is that “politeness” here moves from evaluations of polite behavior in general to the more specific case of polite language usage, i.e. “polite” language. but so far the study of politeness theory has mostly focused on face-to-face interaction in non-professional settings. furthermore, the subjects that have been discussed are based on self-invented utterances made in a social vacuum. the difference of this thesis from the others is that this thesis attempts to explore certain theoretical assumptions about politeness through an examination of a specific professional setting - business negotiations. business negotiation refers to the negotiation which is conducted by economic organizations or their representatives for an economic goal. its main character is price- oriented. (wang lijuan 王丽娟 2004: 36) as a purposeful social activity which is a process between two parties, business negotiations are to manage conflicts to achieve an agreement or to solve a problem. but in the process of negotiation, the most troublesome kinds of problems that arise in negotiation are the intangible issues related to loss of face. in some instances, protecting against loss of face becomes a central issue, for the failure to do it may put issues at stake and generates intense conflicts that can impede progress toward agreement and increase substantially the costs of conflict resolution. in other words, the common pragmatic function of business negotiation communication is that of getting the other party to comply in some way by using polite language to protect the others faces. ma thesis ningbo university - 2 - my research question becomes, then: if obtaining compliance is the most frequent goal of business negotiation communication, how is information to be presented and what politeness strategies are to be used in order to obtain compliance meanwhile, to protect against loss of face, furthermore, which factors may affect the politeness strategies in business negotiations. 1.2 the organization of the topic the present thesis consists of seven chapters as illustrated in the following: chapter 1 is devoted to the introductory scenario about the thesis, namely, a general description, organization of the thesis. the primary purpose of chapter 2 is to provide a critical overview of how scholars approach an account of politeness. four fundamental theories on treatment of politeness are identified and explicated: lakoffs rules of politeness, leechs principles and maxims, goffmans notion of face, brown that is, they are a context that tempers, modifies, or even changes politeness strategies in business negotiations. ma thesis ningbo university - 3 - finally, chapter 7 is a concluding part, the theoretical and practical significance of the thesis is considered with suggestions for further research efforts. ma thesis ningbo university - 4 - 2 theoretical background 2.1 lakoffs rules of politeness since 1975 when grices co-operative principle (cp) and his maxims of conversation were formulated, many linguists have tried adopting grices universal construct of conversational principles to investigate politeness phenomena which have not been touched in cp. lakoff was among them. lakoff (1973) proposes two simple rules of pragmatic competence on the presupposition that the speaker is aware of his/her relations with his/her hearer, his/her own situation where the conversation occurs, and the extent to which he/she wishes to change either or both, or to reinforce them: (1) be clear. (2) be polite. in lakoffs point of view, although grices conversational maxims can be used to illuminate how to maintain clear in conversation, they fail to explain the latter rule to be polite. although lakoff has not until now specified what she takes politeness to be, she points out that politeness should make the hearer “feel good”, hence, to be polite, one should avoid conflict with the hearer, by not intruding into others territory, letting the hearer take his or her own decisions. she claims that politeness involves the nonlinguistic behavior (e.g. opening door for others), linguistic behavior (e.g. apologizing by speech acts), and some special expression means of politeness. in this light, she posits sub-rules, adapted as follows: (1) formality: dont impose, to remain aloof. rule 1 states that one should keep distance from others by not imposing. in order to keep distance from others, she points out that one tends to use formal expressions or uses technical ma thesis ningbo university - 5 - vocabulary to exclude personal emotions. this rule is apt for the situation where the two participants are imbalanced in power, e.g. students and leaders, workers and directors etc. (2) hesitancy: allow the hearer his options. the second rule is characterized by saying things hesitantly, by not stating ones will clearly or by using euphemisms. it involves the status difference of the speaker and the hearer, and the speaker yields to the power of the hearer by leaving the option of decision to the hearer. this rule is suitable for the situation where the participants are equal in power and status and not familiar with each other, e.g. businessmen and customers, two strangers etc. (3) equality or camaraderie: act as though the speaker and the hearer were equal to the latter one, or show sympathy to make him feel good. this rule, on the other hand, emphasizes equality between the speaker and the hearer, and it enhances closeness between them. this rule can be applied to enhance the relationship between intimate friends or lovers. lakoff argues that the three rules of politeness are not necessarily compatible. lakoff suggests that they are to some extent mutually exclusive: different ones are applicable in different real-world situations, and applying the wrong one at the wrong time may cause as much friction as not applying any. she suggests that before speakers determine which strategy should be used in the conversation, they must assess their relationship with their hearers, as well as their communicative goals and intentions. lakoffs politeness rules can be applied to three situations, which have already been mentioned above. but they dont draw enough observation from other linguists, mainly because lakoff doesnt set forth in details what will be the consequences if the rules are violated, neither does she explain the reason why sometimes people violate them on purpose. lakoffs analysis does not offer an integrating theory that places her rules of politeness in a framework that explains their form in terms of social relationships and expectations about humans as interactants. ma thesis ningbo university - 6 - 2.2 leechs principles and maxims like lakoff, leech also considers politeness from the conversation-maxim point of view. leech (1983: 81, 83) argues politeness functions in two ways: to “rescue” grices cooperative principle (cp) by explaining why speakers choose to violate the maxims, and to minimize the impoliteness of impolite illocutions, with its mirror image of maximizing the politeness of politeness illocutions. unlike other studies of politeness, he opts to treat the study of linguistic pragmatics as the study of goal-directed linguistic behavior, and studies politeness within the domain of a rhetoric pragmatics. in this light, he speaks of an “interpersonal rhetoric” and “textual rhetoric”. the interpersonal rhetoric is concerned with variables typically associated with the rhetorical situation such as the hearer and the purpose of communication. the textual rhetoric, on the other hand, is concerned with the formal properties of the text proper, such as genre conventions and coherence. for interpersonal rhetoric, leech elaborates a framework which mainly consists of cooperative principle (grice maxims) and politeness principle. according to leech, politeness is based on principle of cost and benefit. his politeness principle goes: “minimize (other things being equal) the expression of impolite beliefs” and, conversely, “maximize (other things being equal) the expression of polite beliefs”. impolite belief is belief which is unfavorable to the hearer or some third party and polite belief the opposite. this give rise to a range of more specific maxims, such as: (i) tact maxim: minimize cost to other; maximize benefit to other. (ii) generosity maxim: minimize benefit to self; maximize benefit to other. (iii) approbation maxim: minimize dispraise of other; maximize praise of other. (iv) modesty maxim: minimize praise of self; maximize dispraise of self. (v) agreement maxim: minimize disagreement between self and other; maximize agreement between self and other. (vi) sympathy maxim: minimize antipathy between self and other; maximize sympathy between self and other. the politeness of an utterance results from three factors. first, the nature of the speech act itself, notably to which degree it involves costs or benefits to the speaker or the hearer. ma thesis ningbo university - 7 - second, the formulation of the speech act, concerning the degree of indirectness and the degree of optionality (the freedom of choice given to the hearer). finally, the relational dimensions “authority” and “social distance”. these factors constitute pragmatic scales. on which a specific speech act is given values according to the context. however, a number of authors have criticized leechs politeness maxims for several reasons. brown and a “positive face” want, which is the need to be accepted, even liked, by others, to be treated as a member of the same group. according to brown (2) the power relations (p) between them; and (3) the absolute ranking (r) of the threat associated with the act in the particular culture. so the weightiness of an fta (w) is calculated thus: w= d(s, h) + p(s, h) + r in deciding whether and how to perform a face threatening act (fta), the speaker will take into consideration the relative weightings of the following three wants: the want to communicate the content of the fta, the want to be efficient or urgent, and the want to maintain hearers face to any degree (brown that is, what one wants is not necessarily what the other one wants, and the parties must resolve the conflict by searching for a strategic way. in this way, two parties establish a new business relationship or improve an old relationship. 3. negotiation is a process of coordination. that is to say, negotiators purpose is to reach an agreement rather than to fight openly. because negotiation is a voluntary process and any party can, at any time, quit the game. it is, therefore, a process of give and take where both parties modify their expectations and offers so as to come closer to each other. every successful agreement results from two parties coordination and consensus. 3.1.2 goals of business negotiations in business negotiations both parties need the other. a buyer cannot buy if no one sells and vise versa. such a situation is called a situation of interdependence where one party is unable to optimize his own outcomes without the choices of others since outcomes obtained are necessarily a function of the choices of both. interdependence is different from independence and dependence. in a situation of independence, one can be independent to others words, feelings. but if you are dependent on other person, one has to accept others demands and care his/her feelings. in a situation of interdependence, one has also a chance to influence the other party, and many options are open to him/her. this relationship is characterized by interlocking goalsboth parties need each other to accomplish their goals. interdependent goals between different negotiation parties determine the range of possible outcomes of the negotiation. they can be classified as conflicting goals, which are a win-lose approach to negotiation, and common goals, which are a win-win solution. in win-lose situation, one person wins at someone elses expense. the unbalanced solution increases the odds of more conflict. losers may have an antipathy against the winners, as a result, breaking the business contact to the winners. ma thesis ningbo university - 13 - no negotiator wants to be a loser. it is not an ideal result if one party loses. the best result of negation is that both parties win. rather than conduct a life-and-death battle between two parties, in a win-win situation, two parties cooperate and communicate to resolve a problem on the basis of mutual benefits. the core of win-win approach is mutual success and convergence of interests. one party tries to gain utmost interests or at least takes action not detrimental to ones own interests, and at the same time may find one way or another to satisfy more or less the counterparts interests as well. the rationality of win-win approach is that this approach can satisfy both parties needs. in addition, it guarantees the interests of the opposing party, as a sequence, pleasing the other party. so the result of win-win approach is: you win, but i am not a loser. win-win approach helps to create healthy balanced interests between two parties, and it provides a way for people to learn to understand each other better and to improve their relationships. 3.1.3 atmosphere in business negotiations every negotiation has its unique atmosphere. some are warm, lively and friendly where two parties negotiate with an attitude of mutual understanding and mutual accommodation. some are cold, conflicting and tense where two parties fight for every inch of land, and seize every ounce of gain. if a good atmosphere takes shape at the very beginning of negotiation, two parties can communicate and discuss in the rest procedure lightly. a good and harmonious atmosphere guarantees the success of negotiation. contrarily, a bad atmosphere is deemed to cast a shadow over the future of the talk. with accordance to the win-win model, two parties are supposed to make joint efforts to purse the best result for them. this model calls for a good atmosphere. how to create a harmonious atmosphere is not only a key to the success of negotiation but also a catalyst for the development of business relationship. the negotiation atmosphere affects directly the whole negotiation perspective. the atmosphere takes shape at the very beginning of the negotiation. and it must be maintained through the whole process of negotiation, which needs every negotiators effort. first, it calls for a capable and experienced negotiator, who has very clear idea that every issue under discussion will facilitate the processing of negotiation, and tries to strengthen the mutual communication and mutual trust in a harmonious atmosphere. ma thesis ningbo university - 14 - secondly, two parties should have respects to each other and be aware that both of th