英语专业毕业论文-politeness principle in English business correspondence.pdf

毕业论文 设计 1 politeness principle in english business correspondence 1 introduction 2 2 an overview of politeness and english business correspondence 3 2 1an overview of politeness 3 2 1 1 lakoff s view on politeness 3 2 1 2 leech s politeness principle 4 2 1 3 positive and negative politeness 5 2 2 brief introduction to english business correspondence 5 2 2 1 definition of business correspondence 5 2 2 2 classification of english business correspondence 6 2 3 the relationship between politeness principle and business correspondence 7 3 politeness in english business correspondence 8 3 1 politeness in good news business letters 8 3 1 1at the word and expression level 9 3 1 1 1using specific words 9 3 1 1 2using you instead of i or we 10 3 1 2at the sentence level 11 3 1 2 1 using short sentences 11 3 1 2 2using active voice 12 3 2 politeness in bad news business letters 13 3 2 1at the word and expression level 13 3 2 1 1avoiding you language when concerning impoliteness 13 3 2 1 2using general words 14 3 2 2at the sentence level 15 3 2 2 1 using passive voice 15 3 2 2 2using longer sentences with complex structures 16 3 3 politeness in persuasive business letters 17 3 3 1a attention 18 3 3 2 i interest 18 3 3 3 c conviction 18 3 3 4a action 19 4 functions of politeness principle in english business letters 19 4 1 maximizing the face building effects of the good news 20 4 2minimizing the face building effects of the bad news 20 4 3lessening the degree of imposition of the persuasive news 21 5 conclusion 21 references 23 毕业论文 设计 2 1 introduction even though politeness is prevalent in our daily life it is still hard to define in the linguistic field in fact politeness is not only a way to convey information but also an important means to build and maintain social relationships in communication lakoff 1973 298 thinks that politeness is used for reaffirming and strengthening relationships according to her politeness is a system of interpersonal relations designed to facilitate interaction by minimizing the potential for politeness and confrontation inherent in all human interchange leech 1983 250 defines politeness from the perspective side and proposes that it is used to create and maintain harmonious interactions brown and levinson 1987 300 consider politeness as forms of behavior that allow communication to take place between potentially aggressive partners all the above definitions contribute to explain the essence of politeness simply speaking politeness is a set of patterns to show the consideration for others and to achieve harmony in communication business correspondence as a basic means of business communication plays a vital role in economic activities it is an effective way to exchange information build up and maintain harmonious business relationships without business correspondence business activities cannot go on smoothly with the globalization of world economy the popularity of the internet english business correspondence including not only traditional letters but also emails and facsimiles is widely used this thesis is going to analyze the application and functions of politeness principle mainly the politeness principle of leech and the face of theory of brown 2 be polite as pragmatic competence she also proposes three maxims of politeness from the perspective of the 毕业论文 设计 4 speaker 1 don t impose used when formal impersonal politeness is required 2 give options used when informal politeness is required 3 make h feel good used when intimate politeness is required lakoff 1973 300 from lakoff s opinion the speaker should avoid putting any imposition on the hearer and choose to give the hearer options in order to keep his positive face at last make the hearer feel good is very important lakoff 1973 300 lakoff s view of politeness is in accordance with the politeness concerns in bad news business letters where the basic need of being polite is far more important than the need of clarity 2 1 2 leech s politeness principle leech 1983 250 thinks that politeness as a phenomenon exists in all language leech s politeness principle can be stated as follows other things being equal minimize the expression of beliefs which are favorable to the hearer leech 1983 251 leech sums up six maxims of the politeness principle as follows tact maxim generosity maxim approbation maxim modesty maxim agreement maxim sympathy maxim tact maxim is the most important one leech proposes politeness principle as a way of explaining how politeness operates in conversational exchanges his politeness principle can be used to interpret the 毕业论文 设计 5 guidelines of business correspondence writing 2 1 3 positive and negative politeness positive politeness is the politeness shown for the addressee s positive face which let the addressee know that he or she is liked and approved of 胡俊琦 2003 100 when the reader is threatened by some acts it is good to take compensating action to protect the addressee s positive face such as praising agreeing and so on negative politeness is the politeness shown for the addressee s negative face when stating face threatening act it is good to take compensating action to protect addressee s negative face such as apologizing minimizing the imposition and so on 秦晓杰 2001 102 writing international business communication without politeness is like fighting a battle it is important to enhance positive politeness and maintain negative politeness 2 2 brief introduction to english business correspondence the english business correspondence is quite important in international business communication it is a vital factor in making international business run smoothly and effectively 2 2 1 definition of business correspondence generally speaking business correspondence can be defined as the correspondence used in business transaction in which the participants are commonly described as the writer and the reader 司福成 2003 200 in fact there exists a high level of trust and cooperation between the writer and the reader since doing business itself is a kind of cooperation it will 毕业论文 设计 6 definitely be shown in business letter writing being one of the most popular ways of communication in business activities business correspondence plays an irreplaceable role in business communication 2 2 2 classification of english business correspondence owing to different criteria business correspondence can be classified from different angles for example according to the different functions business letters can be classified as letters for the establishment of business relations letters for the enquiry of business quotation letters negotiating letters letters answering requests claim and adjustment letters credit and collect letters sales letters employment letters and social business letters etc stewart 1984 380 381 the latter way of classification focuses on the function according to the classification of illocutionary functions by leech 1983 251 it can be divided into four categories as follows 1 collaborative letters they include inquiry letters offer letters conformation letters notification letters and so on the main purpose of the letter is to exchange information messages conveyed by this type of letter are neutral news messages 2 convivial letters they include approval letters letters of appreciation letters of invitation and so on this kind of letter conveys favorable messages and is good for building friendly business relationship 3 competitive letters including request letters collection letters sales letters and so on this letter is to persuade the reader to take certain action thus is impolite in nature skills of persuasion should be used as it is possible to change the letter from impolite to polite 毕业论文 设计 7 4 conflictive letters including all types of refusal letters claim and adjustment letters and so on this letter may damage the business relation between the writer and the reader messages conveyed in this type of letter are called bad news messages in terms of its effect on the reader s needs stewart 1984 382 has summed up four different kinds of information neutral news good news persuasion and bad news based on this classification here comes neutral news letters god news letters persuasive letters and bad news letters which are separately equal to the above mentioned collaborative letters convivial letters competitive letters and conflictive letters 2 3 the relationship between politeness principle and business correspondence basically speaking a business letter is written for three purposes to inform i e to convey large amount of information in order to complete the day to day operations of the business to influence i e to influence the reader s attitude and prompt to react favorably like promoting a product and to entertain which means to show goodwill to the reader give a good impression and maintain friendly relationship between the both parties of a business stewart 1984 382 among the three basic purposes the third one is mainly realized through showing politeness in most situations the greatest amount of politeness is required for example a writer has to make a request a speech act threatening the reader s negative face within a credit rejection letter a type threatening the reader s positive face in this situation the use of please pre pay your order would be less appropriate than the use of a polite structure like 毕业论文 设计 8 your order will be shipped as soon as we receive your payment the polite structure introduces several face saving features by using a declarative sentence to imply the directive and the verb has been nominalized as payment which is impolite expression on the other hand the original sentence uses an imperative to issue a directive to the reader and making the reader the agent of the verb thus threatening the reader s negative face from the above example it can be clearly seen that politeness is widely used in business english letters it helps people build up the image for the whole company and show sincerity consideration and goodwill to the business partner and enhances harmonious business relation thus facilitates the business communication and realizes the ultimate goal of gaining profit 3 politenessinenglishbusiness correspondence this part centers on how politeness principle is employed to meet the need of successful communication in good news letters bad news letters and persuasive letters 3 1 politeness in good news business letters good news business letter as its name suggests conveys favorable messages to the reader and thus is easier to get a favorable response from the reader 汤军 2003 300 in a good news business letter the message conveyed is just what the reader expects so is beneficial to the reader it is better to maximize the favorable effect of the letter and apply the 毕业论文 设计 9 message in the most effective way so as to achieve the positive politeness 汤军 2003 300 writing a good news business letter the more direct and concrete the language is the more polite and effective it is 3 1 1 at the word and expression level word is one of the most basic elements of language it not only focuses on the meaning of the message conveyed but also on how it is conveyed good words and expressions deliver the message effectively and at the same time maintain the reader s positive face in the following some frequently used techniques will be discussed in good news business letters 3 1 1 1using specific words generally speaking while conveying a favorable message specific words work better than general words as the message is good for the reader the more direct it is the more polite it is specific words are clearer than general words as it can help develop a more vivid image to the reader and enhance the reader s positive face here is a comparison of the two sentences 1 your acceptance speech last night for the business woman of the year award was terrific 2 your acceptance speech last night for the business woman of the year award was graceful and witty roddick 2005 250 毕业论文 设计 10 these two sentences are from a letter of congratulations in sentence 1 terrific is used to describe the speech of the reader the word is so general that it is hard to give the reader a deep impression the reader might even think that the writer is lack of sincerity however in sentence 2 the words graceful and witty are specific enough to make clear that her speech is wanted and enhance the reader s positive face from the above comparison it can be concluded that specific words are easier to understand and attract the reader s attention it is more effective to show the writer s sincerity therefore using specific words in good news business letters contributes to getting a better response from the reader 3 1 1 2using you instead of i or we using you or using i and we is totally two different approaches in writing namely you oriented approach or i we oriented approach the former focuses on the reader while the latter focuses on the writer himself herself because it is good news business letter which benefits the reader thus the more attention the reader pays to the message the better it is for the writer it can arouse the reader s interest and make the message accepted most importantly the you language benefits the reader from the writer and shortens the emotional distance between the writer and the reader here are two examples below 3 our savings accounts pay 6 interest 4 you will earn 6 interest from your savings account in sentence 3 it totally focuses on the writer himself herself this sentence seems to have nothing do with the reader not to mention benefiting the reader though it is really good 毕业论文 设计 11 for the reader because of the improper way of expression it is hard to get positive response from the reader but in sentence 4 this sentence really arouses the reader s attention and makes the reader wonder what has to do with him her in this way the message is conveyed more effectively the word you compared with sentence 3 sentence 4 is easier to be accepted 3 1 2 at the sentence level in most situations words cannot express meanings clearly and completely because of their limitation so they should be put in a sentence this part is going to learn how to choose proper sentence most importantly to discuss some useful techniques in order to achieve politeness in good news business letters 3 1 2 1 using short sentences in writing a good news business letter it is recommended to use short sentences with simple structures admittedly short sentences contain fewer words and are simple in structure thus they are easier to read and understand using short sentences greatly decreases the possibility for the favorable messages to be missed or misunderstood thus guarantees the successful delivery of the messages moreover short sentences emphasize the contents by giving a single message without the interference the beneficial message can be emphasized thus the positive politeness is achieved 5 congratulations to jade gillespie in customer service our employee of the month 6 congratulations to jade gillespie in customer service she is our employee of the 毕业论文 设计 12 month roddick 2005 300 in sentence 6 the ideas of sentence 5 are expressed in two short sentences so the name jade is emphasized and becomes the main information of the sentence however there is always too much unnecessary information in the sentence which makes the reader confused and greatly weakens the main idea of good news due to short sentences the beneficial message becomes more powerful and more outstanding 3 1 2 2using active voice active voice is preferable to passive voice in conveying good messages with active voice meanings are clearer and more direct than those in passive voice besides active voice clearly shows who carries out the action and puts the actor especially the subject at the very beginning of the sentence in terms of conveying good news to the reader active voice shows the writer s willingness to take the reader s benefit into consideration thus it enhances the positive politeness for instance 7 we are in receipt of your payment 8 we have received your payment 9 thank you for sending us your payment roddick 2005 300 sentence 7 uses a noun phrase to state the fact of having received the payment dull and without any personal emotion sentence 8 uses the active voice which emphasizes the action of having received the payment the expression is more natural and powerful thus is 毕业论文 设计 13 better than sentence 7 sentence 9 also uses the active voice which not only emphasizes the action of having received the payment but also expressed thanks to the reader at the same time the tone is natural and friendly thus is more likely to get a good response from the reader therefore in conveying good news sentence 9 is the most polite among the three 3 2 politeness in bad news business letters people tend to feel unpleasant when they receive bad news more attention should be paid to the techniques when the information is unfavorable different from good news business letters bad news business letters convey messages that do harm to the reader s benefit and may not be accepted by the reader 杨林聪 2002 400 if bad news business letter is written poorly it may enlarge the unfavorable effect of the message therefore in bad news business letters the focus should be put on the techniques which can help convey the information effectively and clearly 3 2 1 at the word and expression level 3 2 1 1avoiding you language when concerning impoliteness as mentioned before you language emphasizes the reader when the message is good for the reader more you language should be used to strengthen the effect when it comes to the bad news which is usually impolite in nature it is better to avoid you language in order to weaken the bad effect for instance 10 you didn t send your check on time 11 we did not receive the check on time 毕业论文 设计 14 cao 2000 29 the former sentence focuses on the subject you which is great threat to you th