英语专业毕业论文Pragmatic Principles in English Business Correspondence.pdf

毕业论文(设计) 1 pragmatic principles in english business correspondence 1. introduction.1 2. introduction to english business correspondence. 3 2.1 definition of business correspondence.3 2.2 functions of english business correspondence.3 2.3 characteristics of english business correspondence.4 2.3.1 completeness.5 2.3.2 concreteness.5 2.3.3 clearness.6 2.3.4 conciseness.6 2.3.5 courtesy.6 2.3.6 consideration. 7 2.3.7 correctness.7 3. pragmatic principles in english business correspondence.8 3.1 brief introduction to pragmatic principles.8 3.2 grices cooperative principle. 9 3.2.1 quantity maxim and the completeness and concreteness principle.10 3.2.2 quality maxim and the correctness principle.11 3.2.3 relation maxim.13 3.2.4 manner maxim and the clear and concise principle.14 3.3 leechs politeness principle. 15 3.3.1 definition of politeness.15 3.3.2 maxims of leechs politeness principle.16 tact maxim and generosity maxim.17 approbation maxim and modesty maxim.18 agreement maxim.18 sympathy maxim.19 4. pragmatic strategies in english business correspondence.20 4.1 writer strategy.20 4.2 receiver strategy.21 4.3 message strategy.22 5. conclusion.23 references.24 1. introduction with the development of technology, business correspondence is experiencing a rebirth. in order to save time and cut expense, thousands upon thousands of business communications were conducted through cable or telex before, are now being sent by 毕业论文(设计) 2 fax or e-mail. in this case, mastering the skills of writing an effective business letter in short time has become an emergence for those who want to represent themselves positively to their customers, competitors and employers. however, composing a good business letter is not a piece of cake for those who lack of basic information of business letter, especially english business correspondence, and pragmatic principles which guide the writing of correspondence. commercial english is a special term given to english by non-english speaking nations for international trade. what a special kind of character is commercial english? commercial english is standard english adapted to special business purposes. few internationalbusinesstransactionscoveringfinance,law,advertisementand accountant, can be fluently carried out without correspondence at some point. what is more, english is widely used in letters written to customers, agents, suppliers, shipping companies and many other people concerned. so as the importance and popularity of using english in business, more people turn to study it in the hope of adapting to the development of our society. nevertheless, the point that business english, a complex of english and business is a kind of language which is according with pragmaticprinciples incontext should not be neglected.undersuch circumstance, making a clear idea of pragmatic principles becomes an essential task for people who want to conduct business. basing on this background, this thesis is going to discuss the application of pragmatic principles in english business correspondence and has concluded some useful strategies of composing an effective english business correspondence. 毕业论文(设计) 3 2.introductiontoenglishbusiness correspondence 2.1 definition of business correspondence according to oxford advanced learners english-chinese dictionary, a letter is a written message addressed to a person or an organization, usu. in an envelope and sent by post. “business is all those activities involved in providing the goods and services needed or designed by people.” (庄学艺, 周耀宗, 1995: 63) so a business correspondence is a letter dealing with business, used in the negotiation of trade conditions in national or international businesses, concerning the quality of specified goods, specifications, quantity, price, shipment, insurance, payment, disagreement, claim, etc. 2.2 functions of english business correspondence nationally language is a tool for human communication. essentially, business relies heavily upon human conversation. nowadays business correspondence is the most frequently used means in commercial communication by corporations to keep in touch with their customers. english business correspondence plays an increasingly significant role and remains an essential part in foreign trade affairs. undoubtedly without these letters, many of the ordinary activities of business would not be fulfilled. business letters are used to provide services or sell products, request material or information, answer customer enquiries, maintain public relations, and serve other various business functions. generally speaking, business letters work as an effective way to convey and get 毕业论文(设计) 4 information. despite the facts that face-to-face oral communication can give message and some cases can be handled over phone. however, few business people want to visit every client one by one, particularly in the society in which the concept that time is money is prevailing for any time-consuming and expensive idea would be abandoned. what are worse, people are not sure to obtain completely what they hear. as a result, letter remains the best form to secure that the message is accurately sent or received; even it is describing technical or highly detailed information. business letters also function as written contract recognized by courts.letters of agreement, contract, treaty, etc. are often drawn up by and between companies and independent parties have the function of stipulation, which means that these documents are binding on both sides signed. the side that breaks the terms will take political, economical or moral responsibilities. besides, business letters serve as a part of a companys permanent records. they can be evidence verify bookkeeping, inventory entries or vouchers. if a manager has any question about a customer order or an agreement, he can check the letter while he can not do the same with a phone conversation. last but not least, business letters act as formal or informal public relation materials. they can help reveal ideas and build goodwill between businessmen and the clients, suppliers and other public groups. how to express and what language style adopted in the letters will leave an impression in the readers mind. 2.3characteristicsofenglishbusiness correspondence “generally speaking, practical english writing does not call for flowery language because it isnt literary works, but it is required to express your own views accurately 毕业论文(设计) 5 in a plain language that is very clear and readily understood, and to catch the readers attention and to persuade them into believing what you said.”（廖英, 2002: 95） therefore, a business letter must be accurate and appropriate, or it will bring great inconveniences or losses to business. “practical english writing, especially business english writing is the model of practical language. its main function is to inform or remind counterpart or public of a certain thing or public affairs and ask them to act according to the rules stimulated in what is written. then, what should an effective business letter be like? the above mentioned the fact that such a practical writing has its specific language style, that is, the essential language features which are called the seven cs: completeness, concreteness, clearness, conciseness, courtesy, consideration and correctness.” (廖英, 2002: 97-116) 2.3.1 completeness completeness is often shown both in form and in content of a business letter. every letter should include the necessary parts. lacking of any part of a business letter is not complete in form. the writers have to pay attention to the form of letter, at the same time, should keep in mind that a business correspondence is very successful and highly effective only when it consists of two aspects, completeness of fact and completeness of explanations. 2.3.2 concreteness any kind of practical english writing should be specific, definite and persuasive instead of being vague, general and abstract. in a general and vague message, everything seems to be mentioned but actually few are fully expounded. especially 毕业论文(设计) 6 for contracts, agreements, and business letters calling for specific reply, concreteness must be always stressed. using specific facts, figures and time can help write concretely and vividly. 2.3.3 clearness clearnessisoneofthemainlanguagefeaturesofenglishbusiness correspondence. the writer should make sure that the content is clear so it cant be misunderstood. to do so, much attention should be paid to the concise and accessible expressions and avoiding words with more than one meaning. for example, in the sentence “they have also a decided advantage in regard to freight.”, the word “freight” has different meanings: (a) freight charges (b) cargo (c) transportation. therefore, the above sentence should be changed into “they have also a decide advantage in regard to freight charges.” (廖瑛, 2005: 5) 2.3.4 conciseness conciseness is always considered to be the significant writing principle and language feature. today, when most readers are inundated with a tremendous flow of written message, conciseness is given high priority, for it keeps the language simple, clear and easy to read. concise writing, therefore, firstly, makes a long story short and tries to avoid wordiness; secondly, the general and out-of-date commercial jargons should be avoided. moreover, unnecessary repeat should be omitted and the number of words should be controlled. 2.3.5 courtesy “courtesy is an important language feature of practical english business writing 毕业论文(设计) 7 for international business, especially for international business letters.” (廖英, 2002: 111). courtesy not only means politeness, but also means thinking about the interests of customers and offering them convenience in their work. in order to achieve courtesy，it is better to use expressions with the meaning of joy, willingness, thanks, regret; and expressions with requesting or mitigating tone, such as “please”(kindly), “we would(might)say”, “it seems to us that”. to accomplish this goal, several courtesy blunders should be avoided, they are: (a) suspicion (b) accusation (c) talking down. 2.3.6 consideration generally speaking, a letter functions well if it can deeply impress and favorably influence its recipient. consideration means considering the whole matter from the stand point of the opposite party. to achieve this, the writer should put himself in his readers shoes and try to imagine the reactions of them， keep in mind what their needs, wishes, interests, problems are and how to meet their requirements when writing business letters. 2.3.7 correctness practical english writing for international business must be correct; otherwise it may be misunderstood and even go astray. correctness is the most fundamental requirement of written communication. business letters, as written certificates of documents and contracts of international trade, concern the rights and obligations of the two sides. they must convey correct and accurate information to the readers. furthermore, correctness is free from errors in grammar, punctuation and spelling of 毕业论文(设计) 8 words, which are the basic elements. accurate facts, words and figures should be chosen. 3. pragmatic principles in english business correspondence 3.1 brief introduction to pragmatic principles as g. leech (1983: 104) put it, “we can not really understand the nature of language itself unless we understand pragmatics.” the term “pragmatics” was first introduced into literature by the american philosopher charles william morris in 1937 under the title of logical positivism, pragmatism and scientific empiricism. later, george yule (2003: 3) concluded pragmatics “as the study of speaker meaning, of contextual meaning, of how more gets communicated than is said, of the expression of relative distance.” people tend to behave in fairly regular ways when it comes to language use. that is because people are members of social groups and follow general patterns of behavior expected within the group and most people within a linguistic community have similar basic experiences of the world and share a lot of non-linguistic knowledge. accordingly, researchers propose that there are regular principles of language in use, which people use to constrain their conversation and make sense of what they hear. since a principle is what a person chooses to govern his conduct, often forming part of a code or a fundamental implication, therefore, “pragmatic principles can be considered as a set of inference rules, or a systematic set of constraints on the use of language, governing and regulating the generation and 毕业论文(设计) 9 interpretation of meaning, and they are a set of assumptions the speaker and the hearer should conform to.” (马军军，2004) grices cooperative principle, leechs politeness principle and sperber and wilsons rationality principle are three main principles in pragmatics. the first two principles, adopted as the theoretical foundations, embody the requirement in business letter writing. the application of the two principles not only promotes the efficiency of correspondence but also realizes the aim of composing effective english business correspondences. so cooperative principle and politeness principle have been specifically discussed in the following parts. 3.2 grices cooperative principle grice began by considering “a certain subclass of non-conventional implicature, namely conversational implicature. these are essentially connected with certain general features of discourse, which arise from the fact that if peoples talk exchanges are to be rational, they must consist of utterances which are in some way connected with each other.” (grice, 1975: 45) what guarantees this connection is called cooperative principle (cp for short). grice broke the cp into four maxims: quantity, quality, relation and manner. then is this applicable to the writing of english business correspondence? cooperative principle is always upheld in business transactions since its the nature of business communication. the appropriate manipulation of the maxims of cp in business letters leads to successful achievement of business communicative goals. now it is time to analyze the application of cp in english business correspondence. 毕业论文(设计) 10 3.2.1quantitymaximandthecompletenessand concreteness principle the maxim of quantity, concerned with the quantity of information provided, has two aspects, one of them is: making contribution as informative as is required (for the present purpose of the exchange). (grice, 1975: 45) completeness in business letter is the demonstration of the maxim of quantity. a complete letter should include all the relevant information that the readers need to act upon or answer all the questions and demands which are put forward in a received letter which in fact is a concluding contract. once the letter is received by the addressee, it is binding on both sides. there is an example below. we were pleased to receive your letter of may1, 1999 and thank you for your interest in our womens leather shoes. as you know, prices for leather are now on the increase and there is considerable demand for leather shoes at home. our output falls out of the demand at present. however, for the quantity you mentioned, we are pleased to offer as follows, subject to your acceptance reaching here