英语论文-Analysis of Politeness Language in Business Correspondence.pdf

毕业论文 设计 1 analysis of politeness language in business correspondence 1 introduction 1 1 1 general description of the current research 1 1 2 organization of the thesis 2 2 an overview of business correspondence 3 2 1 the definition of business correspondence 3 2 2 the classification of business correspondence 3 3 politeness language and related theoretical foundation 4 3 1 what is politeness language 4 3 2 politeness principle and politeness language 5 3 2 1 leech s politeness principle 5 3 2 2 leech s politeness principle and politeness language 5 3 3 face saving view and politeness language 6 3 3 1 brown and levinson s face theory 6 3 3 2 face and politeness language 6 4 politeness language and business correspondence 7 4 1 significance of politeness language in business correspondence 8 5 presentation of politeness language in business correspondence 9 5 1 positive politeness language 9 5 1 1 praise language and sample analysis 9 5 1 2 modesty language and sample analysis 11 5 1 3 closer relationship 13 5 1 3 1 congratulation language and sample analysis 13 5 1 3 2 sympathy language and sample analysis 16 5 2 negative politeness language 18 5 2 1 apology language 18 5 2 1 1 direct apology language 19 5 2 1 2 indirect apology language and sample analysis 21 6 conclusion 23 references 24 毕业论文 设计 2 1 introduction 1 1 general description of the current research with the increase and enlargement of the global economic cooperation business correspondence as an important way of communication is playing a significant role in developing new transactions establishing and maintaining good relationship or promoting information intercourse some articles have been published about the topic of politeness and business correspondence liushuang 2007 explored the application of politeness strategies to good news bad news and persuasive english business letters and also made a comparison among the three types of business letters in the hope that the findings will provide a foundation for the practical business writing gaohuan 2007 focused on business letter with politeness theory relevant to different business situation huangdongmei 2003 tried to further analyze the application of the politeness strategies in chinese business letters the studies on the topic of politeness and business letter are plentiful and a great deal of practical and theoretical achievements has been made 1 2 organization of the thesis this thesis tries to explain the important role of business correspondence plays in today s modern business world and also explain the significant relationship between politeness language and business correspondence at the beginning then illustrate how all kinds of writing techniques are employed to embody various politeness strategies 毕业论文 设计 3 by means of samples analysis from different aspects of politeness language language of praise modesty sympathy congratulation apology and criticism through those politeness languages analysis writing techniques to different situations of business correspondence are clearly explained and represented therefore if your business correspondence is concise pragmatic and efficient it can have you succeed in business 2 an overview of business correspondence 2 1 the definition of business correspondence in today s highly developed and toughly competitive society communication between individuals and groups is becoming increasingly frequent and important it serves to pass on information to express ideas or to exchange feelings liaoying 2003 4 business correspondence plays a significant role in communication generally speaking the function of a business correspondence is to get or to convey business information to make or to accept or offer to deal with various businesses the relationship between business person and customer is one of the most important one in doing business the business correspondence is the principal means used by a business firm to keep in touch with its customers often enough business correspondence is the only one and the customers form their impression of the firm from the tone and quality of the letters it sends out lantian 2004 毕业论文 设计 4 2 2 the classification of business correspondence business correspondence has a variety of classifications from different study angles according to the contents of the correspondence there are request claim and adjustment correspondences sales credit and collection correspondence by the nature of the information given four different kinds of information in terms of its effect on the reader s needs were summed up good news neutral news bad news and persuasive correspondences since business correspondences have so many types in this thesis the above two types of classification are given to explain what kinds of activities happening between the company and its business partners or customers and also explain how the business correspondence helps providing information and enhancing business relationship between both parties 3 politenesslanguageandrelated theoretical foundation 3 1 what is politeness language for most of us we have known and understood the concept of politeness very clearly in most of the countries saying thank you to the person who has offered you some help is being courteous or being polite this interesting politeness phenomena has been studied systematically since 1950s various definitions have been given by well known linguists 毕业论文 设计 5 brown and levinson 1987 define politeness as a redressive action taken to counter balance the disruptive effect of face threatening acts and he ziran 2003 viewedthatpoliteness playingan importantrole in regulatingparticipant s communicative behavior in society because politeness gives reminding of taking the feelings of others into consideration among participants the interlocutor as well as a third party not necessarily present with an emphasis on the former it is necessary to think about their feelings as to establish levels of mutual comfort and promote rapport which in turn accelerate and facilitate human communication one of the functions of politeness is to create or manifest a distance between the interlocutors as in the case of social hierarchical placements that have to be maintained through language use mey j 2001 81 therefore we could come to a conclusion that politeness language is a kind of language used to show considerations for others and create interpersonal harmony as a means of communication to convey information and help to establish and maintain social status 3 2 politeness principle and politeness language 3 2 1 leech s politeness principle leech 1983 proposed the maxims of the politeness principle which are 1 tact maxim 2 generosity maxim 3 approbation maxim 4 modesty maxim 5 agreement maxim 6 sympathy maxim this principle forms the foundation of the following samples analysis 毕业论文 设计 6 3 2 2 leech s politeness principle and politeness language leech s politeness principle generalizes that what politeness language is and how to be acted politely the six maxims are important for people to conduct their behaviors in daily life so the harmony and closed relationship among people can be built up and politeness language presents leech s politeness principle especially in the aspect improving the relationship in business activities nowadays minimizing himself or herself benefits and maximizing other s benefits are exactly the essence of politeness language that politeness language is used to benefit others praise others agree with others and have sympathy on others 3 3 face saving view and politeness language 3 3 1 brown and levinson s face theory brown and levinson 1978 provide a comprehensive theory of politeness phenomena including both verbal and non verbal behavior thought most of their discussion concentrates on the former basic to their model are two kinds of face viewing the need to partially satisfy face as a basic human want they propose five politeness strategies to speakers for performing a face threatening act fta the choice of strategy depending on the estimated risk of face loss to the speaker or reader the five politeness strategies are as follows 1 bald on record 2 positive politeness 3 negative politeness 4 off record and 5 don t do fta he ziran 2003 毕业论文 设计 7 3 3 2 face and politeness language politeness language can be employed as the means to show awareness of another person s face and can be accomplished in situations of social distance or closeness in conclusion politeness language plays an important role in maintaining a harmonious relationship among people and defending their faces if threatened politeness language tries to save people s positive face or negative face by presenting different kinds of language in different occasions if their faces are threatened 4 politenesslanguageandbusiness correspondence with rapid development of the world economy business communication is becoming faster and more frequent business correspondence as a major form of communication in today s modern business world plays a significant role in establishing and operating a business business correspondence has been regarded as the lifeline of modern business therefore it is very important to write letters in a polite and tactful way to reach an intended goal and catch the reader s attention intoday ssocietycharacterizedbyspeedandefficiency business correspondence has a great influence on company s business activities a courtesy and descent business letter can help to build a favorable business image for the company and do good business however a letter lack of courtesy can not only lead to the 毕业论文 设计 8 failure of the business but also destroy the image which the companies have built up therefore the politeness of business letters is very important it is a common view that there are some guidelines for effective business writing one of which is politeness language politeness language shows honest friendship thoughtful appreciation understanding and respect to the reader so that a successful communication can be made among companies the purpose of using politeness language in business correspondence is to help companies doing business effectively and maintaining good image to the outside world 4 1 significance of politeness language in business correspondence communication spreads elsewhere generally speaking when one communicates he or she is trying to transmit and share information with someone else to have common interests with each other and communication is definitely important in business activities although new information technologies such as telegram fax and so on are employed in daily business operation business correspondence as an unfailing mean of communication both in the ancient and in the modern society plays a important role in establishing and maintaining bushing relationship according to leech s politeness principle brown s face saving view of politeness brown and levinson s face theory this thesis tries to explain the significance of politeness language in business correspondence from two different aspects positive politeness language and negative politeness language 毕业论文 设计 9 basically the most important function of politeness language is of writing business correspondence for the most business activities today the major way to communicate is to write business correspondences so the importance of politeness language used business correspondence is obvious 5 presentation of politeness language in business correspondence 5 1 positive politeness language according to brown and leech s face view positive politeness is defined as a face saving act which is concerned with the person s positive face will tend to show solidarity emphasize that both speakers want the same thing and that they have a commongoal yule 2000 positivepolitenesslanguageusedinbusiness correspondence tries to please make harmony relationship among customers in this thesis four different kinds of politeness language are used to analyze the importance of positive politeness language in business activities which are praise language modesty language congratulation language and sympathy language 5 1 1 praise language and sample analysis according to leech s 1983 maxims of the politeness principle approbation maxim tries to minimize dispraise of other and maximize praise of other that means 毕业论文 设计 10 to praise others as much as you can to save other s positive faces therefore praise language is used as a positive maxim to satisfy reader s amour proper it is necessary to praise your business partners with praise language which helps to attract other s attention and maintain a closer relationship positive words include the words that carry positive meanings like thank pleased glad assure available etc expressing sincerity courtesy and consideration let s look at some sentences samples 1 please accept our sincere thanks for our pleasant association together during the past year your orders have been most welcome and your many acts of cooperation are appreciated 2 we find both quality and prices are satisfactory and are pleased to place an order with you for the following the using of positive words like please sincere thanks pleasant association welcome appreciated satisfactory and pleased shows the writer s attempt to seek agreement and notice and the reader s interests wants and needs such sentences can create in the reader s mind a favorable image of the writer and the company enhance the reader s positive face and give an impression of loyal and honest business partner to the other these praise sentences definitely help the company to develop new transactions and gain a good reputation the above is discussing the function of praise words used in sentences praise words used in correspondence is illustrated in the following here is a letter sample letter sample 1 dear mr darkin 毕业论文 设计 11 thank you for your order no 464 of 20 september the models you selected from our showroom went out today under my personal supervision i enjoyed meeting you and hope that this order represents the beginning of a long and prosperous relationship between our companies the next time you visit us please let me know in advance so that i can arrange a lunch for you with our directors yours sincerely holt r on the other hand the writer should sell the company s products successfully for example 3 our products especially our cameras are enjoying a high reputation in your area because of the excellent quality and low prices you can be sure our products will no doubt help you expand your market from the above sentence the writher objectively introduces his product s excellent quality first and then the writer further confirms his product of good quality which can bring great benefits to the buyer the words like high reputation excellent no doubt etc present confidence and modesty so that the product can attract more attention from customers and have a bright future in promotion modesty language focuses on seller himself that a seller can sell their good quality products to a buyer successfully and effectively by means of business correspondence at the same time modesty language shows respects and gives a reliable and honest impression to others which helps to do business the following is a good example of using modesty language to introduce the company s product letter sample 2 毕业论文 设计 13 dear madam lee your order of 200rugs was loaded on board s s haihe which left xingang for your port yesterday they shall reach you in three weeks we hope this is the first of many orders for years to come your choice of our mohair rugs is excellent these rugs are made with selected wool and you will find that they are greatly valued they are attractive as well as hard wearing and they do not soil easily to show our appreciation of your order we have included in the shipment some sample materials we use for other rugs and carpets please indicate your interests on the enclosed order form we are looking forward to more opportunities of serving you sincerely yours xian xibiao 2003 27 at the first paragraph the letter directly mentions the order with the customer and gives the wishes of having more wishes from the customers the second paragraph focuses on the quality of product with sentence like your choice of our mohair rugs is excellent at the beginning and then gives a modesty estimation of the product at the end it is wise to take this opportunity to show interests of more orders with each other from the letter sample modesty language greatly and successfully presents the intention of the writer it also gives an honest and faithful impression to the customer and company s good reputation would have been built up 毕业论文 设计 14 5 1 3 closer relationship 5 1 3 1 congratulation language and sample analysis to do good business really means making friends with each other and a letter of congratulation is always appreciated by the recipient such letters should be enthusiastic and brief they are usually sent to personal friends and will sound natural if you keep in mind the persons to whom they are being sent such occasions as job promotions or the receipt of some special honor or award should be recognized by a letter of congratulation 耿 秉 钩 1999 that means the congratulation language must focus on the theme of the reader s happiness your congratulation language to the theme should be emphasized smoothly with the words likeheartycongratulationsorsentenceslikewesendyouourwarmest congratulationsonyourincreasedbusinesswithus generallyspeaking congratulation language is used to give congratulation to such occasions as promotion marriage etc through business correspondence in business activities a polite letter can improve the intercourse with each other and make business done happily because proper congratulation language can please persons of the impress the company deeply for example 4 i would like to extend my warmest congratulations 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