英语专业毕业论文Politeness and Business English Letters（礼貌与商务英语信函） .pdf

外国语学院学生毕业论文 题题 目目politeness and business english letters 礼貌与商务英语信函礼貌与商务英语信函 专业 班级 学生姓名 学号 指导教师 年年月月日日 contents abstract in english 4 abstract in chinese 4 1. introduction 5 2.politeness 5 2.1 the definition of politeness 5 2.2 politeness principle (pp) and its maxims 6 2.2.1 tact maxim 6 2.2.2 generosity maxim 7 2.2.3 approbation maxim 9 2.2.4 modesty maxim 9 2.2.5 agreement maxim 10 2.2.6 sympathy maxim 10 3.politeness and personal letters 12 3.1.components of personal letters 12 3.2.representation of politeness in personal letters 13 3.2.1greeting types 13 3.2.2 gender types 14 3.2.3 intrinsic types 14 4. politeness and business letters 15 4.1 business english letters 15 4.1.1 field 15 4.1.2 tenor 16 4.1.3 mode 16 4.2.classification of business english letters 17 4.3.representation of politeness in business letters 18 4.3.1 vocabulary choosing and politeness of business english letters 18 4.3.2 sentences choosing and politeness of business english letters 20 5. personal letters vs. business english letters20 5.1 similarities of politeness in two types of letters21 5.2 differences of politeness in two types of letters21 5.2.1 the deviation to the meaning of some commonly-used words21 5.2.2 frequently-used phrases 22 5.2.3 frequently-used clipping terminology 22 5.2.4 frequently-used plain, simple words or phrases22 6. conclusion and implications 23. bibliography 25 acknowledgements 26 abstract through a concise comprehension and systematic analysis of g. n. leechs politeness principle, personal letters and business english letters, this paper discusses their similarities and differences of personal letters and business letters. it also argues that the principle of politeness in english business correspondence should be upheld. also presented in this paper are several points of implications to achieve politeness in english business communication. from the comparison, we can see the features and importance of business letters more clearly, which can guide us to pay more attention when we make transactions. key words: politeness principle; personal letters; business english letters 摘要摘要 本文通过对英国著名语言学家 g. n. leech 的礼貌原则, 私人信函和商务英 语信函的系统分析及简单了解, 讨论了商务英语信函与私人信函的相似之处与 不同之处. 同时, 也论述了商务英语信函应坚持的礼貌原则, 并且也提出了当代 商务英语信函应用礼貌原则的几点启示。从它们的比较及给我们的启示中，我们 能更清楚地看到商务信函的特征和重要性。 这些在我们洽谈业务时能引导我们更 加注意、谨慎。 关键词：礼貌原则; 私人信函; 商务英语信函 politeness and business english letters 1. introduction in business, it is mostly through business letters that exporters and importers bridge the differences and reach a fair and mutually satisfactory deal. business letters play an important part in a transaction. maybe you will ask why? the reason is that buyers and sellers need to communicate with each other before and after signing a contract. owing to the rapid development in trading, no matter in domestic or international trade, business letters are expressing their features and importance. politeness, which is a social phenomenon, touches upon every aspect of life. it consists its principle, its representation in personal and business letters. generally speaking, politeness can be considered as being considerate of others in order to achieve some social goals, such as maximizing the benefit to self and other, minimizing the face-threatening nature of a social act, etc. the ultimate goal of politeness is “the attainment of community”(leech, 1983: 104). therefore, politeness is vitally important to both personal letters and business letters. 2. politeness 2.1 the definition of politeness politeness is the sign of human civilization, an important code of human social activity. as a kind of social activity, language activity is also restricted by the same code. politeness principle is that in the same other conditions, minimizing the expression of impolite beliefs. (hezhaoxiong, 2000:164-165) politeness is the attitude of one party to another party. it comes to both parties. the english famous pragmatist g.n.leech called the two parties self and other . in letters, self usually means to the writer, and other may be the receiver, or a third party who has been mentioned or not mentioned in the letter. therefore, politeness, what a writer express can be aimed at a receiver or a third party. it is not symmetry in nature. that is to say, it is polite to the receiver or a third party, but it is impolite to the writer. politeness is the foundation of establishing good human and cooperative relationship. successful development of business communication depends on establishment of good social relationship. if we have no stable and harmonious human and cooperative relationship, the development of business transaction will run into a lot of obstacles. 2.2 politeness principle (pp) and its maxims at the basic level, politeness is considered to be considerate for others. hudson thinks we usually try to avoid exposing other peoples weakness, or raising heated controversy, unless we are sure that it will not affect the attitude of others towards us or we are indifferent to their opinion . (hudson, 1985:115) in other words, politeness is of importance in promoting interpersonal relationship to achieve both individual and group goals. as for the politeness principle in business english, elders have made plenty of study. during 1980s, the english famous pragmatist leech puts forward the famous politeness principle from angles of rhetoric and style on the basis of grices cooperation principle. the core content of politeness principle can be summed up from two aspects: to minimize call things being equal, the expression of impolite beliefs, and to maximize call things being equal, the expression of polite beliefs. (leech, 1983) the importance of this principle is that giving others trusts on positive meaning while avoiding to offensive others on negative significance. (leech, 1974) leech, like grice, divides the politeness principle into six maxims: tact maxim, generosity maxim, approbation maxim, modesty maxim, agreement maxim and sympathy maxim. 2.2.1 tact maxim tact maxim means to minimize cost to other and maximize benefit to other. (leech, 1983) it also means what methods the writer uses to reach his goal during writing communication. leech thinks that this maxim is first important which is a universal maxim to guide people to make a successful conversation. after understanding the definition of tact maxim, it is also widely used in business english letters. during business activity and communication, its quite important to how to master tact maxim well. using language politely must take social factors into consideration. sometimes, in this circumstance it is polite language, but it may be not in another circumstance. an imperative structure for the sentences is very important. here are five sentences. assume that a writer would write each one to a receiver. rearrange them in order of politeness, starting with the least polite. think about what made some of these sentences seem more polite than others. (1) take a look at this. (2) clean up the kitchen floor. (3) pass the salt. (4) have some more cake. (5) peel these potatoes. (peccei, 2000) as for these, many people rearrange the sentences like this: (2) clean up the kitchen floor. (5) peel these potatoes. (3) pass the salt. (1) take a look at this. (4) have some more cake. why so many people rearrange these like that? because it benefits the receiver and we interpret this as an offer rather than a request. at last, the writer will get the most interest and the receiver is glad to give him. finally, we can say safely according to the above mentioned, tact maxim is actually summarized as: minimize the cost to other; maximize the benefit to other. using language tactfully means to use it politely. (he ziran, 1998) business letters should, according to circumstances, adopt suitable language, neither being offensive nor over polite, and make sure the business communication to continue in a harmonious atmosphere. 2.2.2 generosity maxim generosity maxims core content is minimizing benefits to self and maximizing cost to self. this maxim which manifests in business english is that adopting more other attitude and less self attitude. so it is during business letter communication. many westerners highlight very much the attitudes of writers. therefore, when writing a letter, we must put the receiver into our heart. we must consider his hope, difficulty, background, feeling and possible response to the letter, etc. then we deal with the things and expand the others interest as much as we can base on the other partys position. for example: we are sending the documents to you by air express. this sentence is right and the receiver can accept. if its changed into that: we are rushing the documents to you by air express. although we only have changed one word, the writer has obviously considered the other partys interest and expanded ourselves cost. another example: call me in the evening between 8 and 10. the sentence is absolutely said from the angle of benefit self. the meaning is that i am not free in other time, if you want to phone me, only can call between 8 and 10 in the evening. if its changed into this: id be glad to have called me in the evening between 8 and 10. after this change, the final result is the same as last sentence, but it greatly reduces the cost of self. for example:” we have a very good selection of winter clothes at the chinas autumn export commodities fair. this sentence itself is very perfect and has no mistake. moreover, it brings a good fact. but only the defect is that the angle of writing emphasizes himself not the receiver. if we change it into another form, which likes that you can choose from a very good selection of winter clothes at the chinas autumn export commodities fair. that not only emphasizes a variety of winter clothes, which can be chosen, but also the interest of the receiver. meanwhile, using the phrase you can choose is more intimate and direct. also such as the following sentences: (6) would you like to have another sandwich? (7) please have another sandwich. (8) do have another sandwich. (9) you must have another sandwich. example (6) makes the hearer or the receiver have broader choosing scope, so it becomes estranged and indifferent. it seems to have an attitude which is that accepting or not is nonsense of him . thus the example (6) is understood as impoliteness. while sentence (9) is straightforward and cant be refused .it shows the speaker or the writers enthusiastic of nearly force. so it is considered as the manifestation of hospitality. (heziran, 1995:113) so we can safely say from the examples above mentioned in considerable circumstances, other attitude is better than self attitude . because it always takes others interest into consideration at first, and in the same time it also can achieve the meaning or purpose which self attitude wants to express. tact maxim and generosity maxim are both used in impositives and commissives. they have seldom differences in essence. even leech himself thinks there is no need to distinguish these two maxims in practice. for example, in the following sentences: (1) hand me the newspaper. (2) got a cigarette? (3) you can use my car. (4) have another sandwich. we can see that (3) and (4) are more polite than (1) and (2), according to the above maxims. (heziran, 1997) 2.2.3 approbation maxim approbation maxim refers to minimize dispraise of other and maximize praise of other. that is to say, when someone states or advocates a certain thing or opinion, others dont put forward the opposite one, thats called approbation. this is also a maxim we need try our best to observe in letter writing. approbation maxim always considers others prior to self. and it is usually seen at the preparation of establishing the business relationship and discussing the details. for example: it goes without saying that we very much appreciate the support you have extended us in the past. using the phrase it goes without saying (不用说) to exaggerate the appreciate of the receiver highlights the significance of approbation . besides, in each of the following dialogues, there are three alterative responses for the second speaker. (peccei, 2000:62-63) 2.2.4 modesty maxim the counterpart of approbation maxim is modesty maxim, which expresses basically to minimize praise of self and maximize dispraise of self. maintaining modesty when talking to other people is another successful maxim in letter writing. now, lets look at an example: much as we would like to cooperate with you in expanding sales, we are regretful that we just cannot see our way clear to entertain your counter-offer, as the price we quote is quite realistic.” phrases much , just , see our way clear to(想方设法) in the example strengthen the effect of self-humble on purple . the word realistic（实在的）which is used to define price is much more modesty than words good or low on the whole, approbation maxim and modesty maxim are used in expressives and assertives. they are corresponding. the only difference between the two is the object, which they consider .for example: (1) a: your performance was outstanding. b: *yes, wasnt it! (2) please accept this small gift as a token of our esteem. *please accept this large gift as a token of our esteem. (the sentences with * are not polite because they have violated the maxim of approbation and modesty.)(heziran, 2003:87-88) 2.2.5 agreement maxim as we all know, if two people want to reach common sense on sth, they must both agree to this thing. agreement maxim means to minimize disagreement between self and other and maximize agreement between self and other .if we can stick to this maxim, our communication will still continue. agreement maxim is used in assertives. when both of parties have different opinions or need to deal with foreign trade disputes, applying this maxim can reduce the differences and achieve the others approval. thus the communication can continue to develop smoothly. for example: we do not deny that the quality of chinese kernels is slightly better, but the difference in price should, in no case, be as big as ten percent. this example manifests obviously the fact that before the writer points out the receivers unreasonable price, he firstly expresses the acknowledgement of the quality of the sellers product .it expands the two parties agreement. and its purpose wants to remove the obstacles in the communication as possibly as you can. 2.2.6 sympathy maxim sympathy maxim means to, on one hand, the listener or the receiver minimizes antipathy between self and other, on the other hand, he always maximizes sympathy between self and other. therefore, that makes both of the parties talk or write harmoniously. sympathy maxim like agreement maxim is also used in assertives. in the process of foreign trade communication, this maxim is often adopted to express the comfort of the party, which is in a situation of suffering lost, or hope to give the other party some help. and its function reflects on the reply to a partys complaints and claims, which have negative information .for example: we are most anxious to compensate you for the shortage in weight mentioned in your letter of june 4, by offering you an allowance of 10 percent. in order to express the potential meaning of sympathy as possibly as you can ,using the phrase be most anxious to (迫切希望) emphasizes the expect of compensating the other party hurriedly. we have mentioned above that tact maxim and generosity maxim, approbation maxim and modesty maxim is all corresponding, but agreement maxim and sympathy maxim have separate foundation. so they have no relationship .for example: (1) a :it was an interesting exhibition, wasnt it? b: *no, it was very uninteresting. (2) a: english is a difficult language to learn. b: true, but the grammar is quite easy. in (1) b makes a quite rude reply, but in (2) b shows politeness by preferring partial disagreement to complete disagreement. (heziran, 2003:87-88) leech analyses politeness by the use of maxims. each maxim has two sides of a problem: the former is other-centered and the latter is self-centered .the six maxims are often used in interpersonal communication. during these six maxims, tact maxim is the most basic maxim .it is used most widely. in fact,” tact is the base of politeness .so using language politely just means using language tactly .on the other hand, other five maxims are also very important .the approbation maxim: minimizing dispraise of other, maximizing praise of other influences the way we structure representatives. broad speaking, the application of politeness principle can be understood as reflect of tact maxim in international business communication. leech observed that the higher the cost for the receiver in a directive, or the greater the potential for dispraising the receiver in a representative, the more likely it is for the writer to be indirect. however, the social distance between the writer and the receiver can also influence the degree of directness used. (peccei, 2000:66) 3.politeness and personal letters compared to business english letters, personal letters is also quite important. personal letters, as a mode o