Analyzing the Application of Cooperative Principle英语.doc

毕业论文（设计）Analyzing the Application of Cooperative Principle In Business Letters1. Introduction12. Business Letters and Cooperative Principle32.1 Business Letters32.1.1 Business Letters Important Role in Business Communication42.1.2 Business Letters Features42.2 The Cooperative Principle72.2.1 Definition of Cooperative Principle and its Maxims72.2.2 Violation of the Maxims93. Application and Analysis of the Cooperative Principle in Business Letters103.1 The Maxim of Quantity in Business Letters123.2 The Maxim of Quality in Business Letters143.3 The Maxim of Relation in Business Letters153.4 The Maxim of Manner in Business Letters164. Case Study of Business Letter.184.1 ContextQuotation Letter.194.2 The Cooperative Principle in the Case.204.2.1 Analyzing the Violation of Quantity Maxim in the Case204.2.2 The Reason for Violation of Quantity Maxim in the Case.214.2.3 The Reasons for Quality Maxim Almost Never Be Violated.214.2.4 The Reasons for Relation Maxim Seldom Be Violated.224.2.5 The Reasons for Manner Maxim Seldom Be Violated.225. Conclusion.23References251. IntroductionBusiness letter referred in this study is a kind of letter dealing with business activities in international trades. In this modern society, it is still the major means of written communication in business. “Broadly speaking, the functions of a business letter may be said to be: firstly, to ask for or to convey information; secondly, to make or to accept an offer; thirdly, to deal with matters concerning negotiation of business” (外经贸英语函电, 1989: 1).Good communication is so essential in business activities that it requires principles to guide communication. Business letters, as one of a firms main means of communication with others, its quality is one of important elements for successful business, thus it needs to be attached much importance to improve the skills of writing good business letters. Judging from examples of the application of cooperative principle in successful communication, we had better to emphasize the role of applying the principle which will contribute to the improvement of business letters writing.People have found that cooperative principle has been widely applied in writing business letters in these years. Grices cooperative principle (CP) is one of the core ideas in Pragmatics which is significant in guiding verbal communication in the living world, and verbal communication includes oral communication and written communication. “In fact, cooperative principle is very common not only in verbal communication but also in almost all human interaction”(何自然, 2003: 63). In business letters writing, the cooperative principle is used widely to achieve letters specific purpose. However, since the cooperative principle is followed reasonably instead of forcibly, the use of the principle does not mean that it will be followed by everybody all the time. Sometimes people violate the cooperative principle for special purpose which will generate conversational implicature. But taking business letters functions into consideration, it is not so often seen in written business communication.The business letter is the principal means used by companies; and effective communication produced by letter is very important for successful working of an organization. Thus, the duties of a business letters writer are far more than merely putting the message in correcting English. We should see to it that the message is likely to achieve the purpose for which it is written. This thesis attempts to analyze the application of cooperative principle in English business letters, in the hope of finding ways to write qualified business letters, thereby, offering help to the people involved in business affairs.2. Business Letters and Cooperative Principle2.1 Business LettersBusiness letters discussed in this thesis are restricted to the letters provided information and enhancing business relationship between the company and its business partners or customers.As to different functions of business letters, they can be classified as inquiries and replies, offers and counter-offers, orders and acknowledgements, payment letters, shipment and insurance letters, complaints letters, claims and adjustment letters and so on (史瑞芬等, 1993).2.1.1 Business Letters Important Role in Business CommunicationBusiness letter plays an important role in business communication, for the truth that it is more accurate and convincing than other oral ways. It is a very important part of business, primarily because it is a form of written documentation of the clients requirements, our statement of intent and ability, and all the other things, good and bad, associated with a business transaction.No one can deny the importance of business letters in the world of commerce. It is the first step in breaking the ice between business houses or the customer and the business house to achieve the desired goal. In present days, commerce and trade have extended to such a great space, as it has become impossible for a businessman to have direct conversation with his customers and suppliers. Contact can be made between the manufacturer and the trade without any personal meeting through letters. Business letters are still a basic activity involved in trade, and remain a very important form of communication even nowadays. They deliver their companies images to the public. They are often arranged or regarded as evidences of a contract. They are written for information exchange and bridge over the desires between buyers and sellers. Therefore, we should bear in mind the point that business letters play an important role in the development of goodwill and friendly trade relationships.2.1.2 Business Letters FeaturesBusiness letter, as the model of practical English, has its specific language style. “The features of which are called the seven C principles are used to guide the writing of business letter. They are correctness, completeness, concreteness, clarity, conciseness, courtesy and consideration” (廖瑛, 2003: 3).1) Correctness As the base of all kinds of documents, information, figures and terms of business letters must be factual, accurate and exact in particular, for they get involved in the right, the duties and the interest of both parties. Therefore, we should avoid understatement, as it might lead to less confidence and hold up the trade development. Meanwhile, we also should not overstate, for overstatement throws us into an awkward position.2) CompletenessA business letter is very successful and highly effective well only when it contains all the necessary information to the readers and answers all the questions and requirements put forward by the readers(廖瑛, 2003). Incompleteness of business letters will lead to the counterparts unfavorable impression toward the firm. Sometimes, incompleteness will even cause unnecessary disputes and lawsuit. 3) ConcretenessWhat the letter comes to should be specific, definite rather than vague, abstract and general. Especially for business letters calling for specific reply, as offer, inquiring trade terms, etc., concreteness must be always stressed. If in a general and vague letter, the readers maybe only have a vague impression of what we try to achieve. In other words, it will cause the failure of communication. 4) ClarityThe so-called “clarity” is to make sure that what we write is so clear that it can not be misunderstood. We should have a concrete idea of what we are going to achieve in our mind. So before writing, we should consider the order of expressions, and the proper arrangement of content. To do these, a paragraph for each point is a good general rule.5) ConcisenessConciseness is often considered to be the most important writing principle and language feature. It enables to save both the writers and the recipients time. Conciseness means we should clearly express what we would do in a short and pithy style of writing without sacrificing completeness and concreteness. Generally speaking, we will gain in conciseness by writing short sentences rather than long ones.6) CourtesyCourtesy means to show the honest friendship, thoughtful appreciation, sincere politeness, considerate understanding and heartfelt respect tactfully in our letters. A letter expressed in the way of refined and courteous can make ourselves set up an honest and enthusiastic image, which may make the readers glad to cooperate with us.7) ConsiderationA business letter can function well only if it can deeply impress on its recipient. To gain such a favorable impression and influence, we should put ourselves in the position of the recipient, taking into consideration his demand, hope, interests, etc. Thoughtful consideration enables us to better understand our recipient, thus our requirement will be more practical and understandable.2.2 The Cooperative Principle It is said that American philosopher Paul Grice began to formulate his ideas of the theory of conversational implicature in the 1950s, but it was first became known to the public in 1967 when he delivered lectures at Harvard. He concluded that natural language had its own logic. His idea is that in making conversation, the participants must first of all be willing to cooperate. This general principle is called the Cooperative Principle.2.2.1 Definition of Cooperative Principle and its MaximsPeople are always observing a certain rules in verbal communication; otherwise, communication will not proceed any more. In view of this, people do not usually say things directly but tend to imply them which called implicature.Grices opinion is that there is some regularity in conversation.“Our talk exchanges do not normally consist of a succession of disconnected remarks, and would not be rational if they did. They are characteristically, to some degree at least, cooperative efforts; and each participant recognizes in them, to some extent, a common purpose or set of purposes, or at least a mutually accepted direction” (Cole and Morgan, 1975:45).In other words, we seem to follow some principle like the following: “Make your conversational contribution such as is required, at the stage at which it occurs, by the accepted purpose or direction of the talk exchange in which you are engaged” (1975: 45). And this principle is known as the COOPERATIVE PRINCIPLE or CP for short.In discussing the cooperative principle, Grice subdivides this general principle into more detailed and explicit maxims. There are four maxims; which are these of Quantity Maxim, Quality Maxim, Relation Maxim and Manner Maxim (1975).1) The maxim of quantity consists of two principles, making your contribution as informative as required and not making your contribution more informative than required. 2) The maxim of quality means not to say what you believe to be false and for which you lack adequate evidence. 3) The maxim of relation suggests making your contribution relevant. 4) The maxim of manner, to be perspicuous and specific, advises speakers to avoid obscurity and ambiguity and to be brief and orderly.According to Williams opinion, cooperative principle means that people engaged in a particular linguistic interaction will say things appropriate at every point in the interaction. CP reflects a rational plan to coordinate our contributions during conversations, a cultural game plan for our mutual structural coupling in lingual axis. The maxim of quality reflects the speakers sincerity and responsibility not mislead others. The maxim of relation ensures that the conversation be coherent. The maxim of manner refers to the form of the contribution to the conversation: it should be brief and clear in expressing ones idea. In short, these maxims specify what participants have to do in order to converse in a maximally efficient, rational, cooperative way: they should speak sincerely, relevantly and clearly, while providing sufficient information.Since the cooperative principle and its component maxims are expressed in the imperative, many readers regard them as prescriptive: telling speakers how they ought to behave; while the truth is that the CP is meant to describe what actually happens in conversation. That is, when we speak we generally have something like the CP and its maxims in our mind to guide us, though sub-consciously, or even unconsciously. We will try to say things which are true, relevant, as well as informative enough, and in a clear manner. Hearers will also try to interpret what is said to them in this way. In this sense, the CP may be compared to unwritten laws.2.2.2 Violation of the MaximsThe cooperative principle, although expressed in the imperative, is meant to describe what actually happens in verbal communication. Grice points out that its maxims are not always observed, and people do violate these maxims in verbal communication and people do tell lies. He notes that a participant in a talk exchange may fail to fulfill a maxim in four ways(何自然，2003):1) He may violate the cooperative principle deliberately but without making others realize it. In this case, he is most likely to mislead others. For example, the speaker tells a deliberate lie.2) He may avoid cooperation in an explicit way by telling others that he is unwilling to cooperate. The example Grice gives is that he may say I cannot say more; my lips are sealed when he has no obligation to let information out.3) He may be faced by a clash. That is to say, he may have to violate one maxim in order to fulfill another. For example, he may be unable to fulfill the first maxim of Quantity without violating the second maxim of Quality.4) He may deliberately violate one of the maxims or fail to fulfill it. When a maxim is flouted, a speaker does not observe the maxim. In this case, the speaker not only knows he is not observing it, but realizes everyone else in the conversation knows it too.It is clear that no implicature would arise in the first and second ways of violation because there is no such basis as CP. However, the third and the fourth ways of violation do lead to implicature in communication. And this aspect arouses the interest of many scholars which produced a great number of studies. But implicature will not be studied in this thesis, for in business letters the theme will be clearly showed but not to be implied.3. Application and Analysis of the Cooperative Principle in Business LettersFrom the above mentioned content, we have a basic understanding about business letter and cooperative principle. In order to give help to further understanding, this thesis is going to analyze the application of cooperative principle in business letters.Every business letter, as a matter of fact, is a communication event. Furthermore, the criterion of distinguishing the effective business letters from the bad ones lies in whether the recipients understanding of the message is consistent with the senders purpose. It means that writing business letters should observe the cooperative principle; hence, giving the cooperative color to the communication.Firstly, the maxim of quantity demands the completeness and concreteness of business letters. Observing this maxim needs us to give adequate information, that is, giving the information the counterpart wants. This kind of letter not only can achieve the purpose of communication, but also can save a great deal of business time to meet the requirement of effectiveness. The standard of judging whether the information of the business letter is completeness and concreteness is that whether it can achieve the expected goal and get the prompt reply from counterpart by employing convincing and concrete facts, data, etc. Secondly, the maxim of quality requires the business letters to be correctness. The maxim of quality means not to say what we believe to be false and for which we lack adequate evidence. Business letters as the letter dealing with international business activities, covering the rights and duties of both sides, asks for the correctness of used language and offered information and data. Otherwise, it will give rise to unnecessary dispute. Therefore, the maxim of quality will play an irreplaceable role in business letter.Thirdly, the maxim of manner requires the clarity and conciseness of business letters. According to this maxim, information should be clear and concise. In other words, we should use short phrases and easy-understood language to show the point directly. Moreover, we had better to avoid using unnecessary repeated words and out-date business jargon. A letter with vague words and unclear point will cause misunderstanding, even give rise to trade loss.Lastly, the maxim of relation requires the business letters to be relevant. It means the content of letter should be about the business of both parts, but not to mention any other irrelevant information. Otherwise, it will waste time and easily cause the confusion of content which will affect the expression of the main idea. In this sense, it is better to have a straightforward point and clarify ones attitude at the beginning.To this extent, the first three maxims requirements have at least reflected five “Cs” features of business letters which can prove the actual application of CP in the special communication (赵凤玉, 2007). In order to better understand how the business letters writers employ the CP and its four maxims, lets give some examples to illustrate as follows:3.1 The Maxim of Quantity in Business LettersThe maxim of quantity consists of two principles: (1) Making your contribution as informative as required;1) Thank you for your inquiry of Nov. 10th. We are pleased to quote you as follows:100 mens cotton shirts Medium US10Net CIF San FranciscoTerms: by L/C at sightShipment: Withi