the application of pragmatic principles in business english correspondence語用原則在商務(wù)英語信函中的應(yīng)用

1、<p>　　The Application of Pragmatic Principles in Business English Correspondence</p><p>　　語用原則在商務(wù)英語信函中的應(yīng)用</p><p>　　1 A Brief Introduction of the Paper</p><p>　　As technology ad

2、vances and trade and exchanges between countries increase, it is becoming more and more important to understand both spoken and written English in many situations such as face-to-face, on the telephone, in business meeti

3、ngs, lectures, speeches, television, and so on.</p><p>　　There have been a lot of books and studies related to the Business English Correspondence. Some of them start with introducing the importance and infl

4、uence of Business English Correspondence and the basic types of Business English Correspondence. Some focus on instructing Chinese readers on how to write business correspondence in English by analyzing the language char

5、acteristics. Some discuss a lot on Business English Correspondence by presenting the frequently used techniques by general means o</p><p>　　Although Business English Correspondence is always included in the

6、above-mentioned studies, they don’t separate it from other forms of writing. Besides, the standards for business writing have been changing all the time. </p><p>　　At present, with the rapid development of e

7、conomic globalization, people have more chances to contact with the outside world and conduct business universally through Internet, broadcasting and Business English Correspondence as well. The Business English Correspo

8、ndence, as a particular sort of media, is a complex blend of national, social, economic and linguistic tradition. Thus, varieties of problems often arise when people confront writing Business English Correspondence, espe

9、cially in a forei</p><p>　　Generally speaking, People may have no problem in completely understanding Business English Correspondence; however, in no way can one write out a good piece of Business English Co

10、rrespondence without studying the general knowledge of pragmatic principles. Problems existing now in Business English Correspondence are how to ensure the success of letters and what can make a Business English Correspo

11、ndence a qualified one. Consequently, the analysis of Business English Correspondence to develop Eng</p><p>　　For instance, in writing to persuade reader to accept an unfavorable offer, the techniques of per

12、suasion are used. In applying for a job, one can use techniques that emphasize his or her qualifications. And in telling bad news, one can use techniques to work them into your letters.</p><p>　　Business sty

13、le is less descriptive and imaginative than literary style because business world is concerned with practical and immediate situations. The pragmatic principles, which play a vital role in Business English Correspondence

14、, mainly consist of Politeness Principle and Cooperative Principle .By means of appropriate use of them, the pragmatic strategies can be applied effectively to business correspondence discourses to achieve desired effort

15、s.</p><p>　　In the first chapter of this thesis, a brief introduction of the paper will be presented. In the second part of the thesis，the author attempts to discuss the main principles of the present Busine

16、ss English Correspondence. In the following chapter theories regarding pragmatic principles will be presented. Chapter Four presents the approaches to apply pragmatic principles to Business English Correspondence by cont

17、rasting examples, so that readers can find out the differences easily. Chapter Five m</p><p>　　2 The Main Principles of Writing Business English Correspondence </p><p>　　Early English business w

18、riters borrowed heavily from the formal language of law and from the flowery language of the nobility. From these two sources they developed a style of letter writing that became known as the “l(fā)anguage of business”, whic

19、h was written in the driest possible manner and in language so stilted and formal that the true personality of the writer was completely hidden. It was a cold, stiff, and unnatural style. Unfortunately, that role as the

20、“l(fā)anguage of business” was never abo</p><p>　　2.1 Courtesy </p><p>　　Business protocol is an essential part for businessmen; we then can imagine how important the courtesy is for a business cor

21、respondence. However, courtesy not only means politeness, but also refers to thinking about the reader’s interests. The reader’s desires, problems, emotions and possible reactions to the request, all of these details nee

22、d to be taken into consideration. The message and information expressed by the correspondence represents the image of the person and his organization. There</p><p>　　Being courtesy, firstly, suspicion shall

23、be avoided. Because once the sense of suspicion is expressed in the correspondence, others will feel that the sender doesn’t believe the receiver, which does harm to the sender. </p><p>　　Compare the two sen

24、tences as follows:</p><p>　　(Polite) We have received with many thanks your letter of Oct 7, and we take the pleasure of sending you our latest catalog. We wish to draw your attention to a special offer whic

25、h we have made in it.</p><p>　　(Courtesy) You will be particularly interested in a special offer on page 5 of the latest catalog enclosed, which you requested in your letter of Oct 7.</p><p>　　C

26、ourtesy has the function of making the receiver comfortable and respected. The effect will, of course, enable business to be completed smoothly and successfully.</p><p>　　2.2 Consideration</p><p&g

27、t;　　Consideration refers to thinking for customers, including their requirements, wishes and feelings, etc. Thoughtful consideration enables us to better understand the customers and receive good reactions from them. For

28、 this purpose, you-attitude, which means putting ourselves in the position of customers, is advocated by many scholars and researchers. When writing a letter, keep the reader's requests, needs, desires, as well as hi

29、s feelings in mind. Plan the best way to present the message for the</p><p>　　When using you-attitude in business letters, insincerity shall also be avoided. We shall remember that the objective is to treat

30、people courteously--the way they like to be treated. It is the attitude that places the reader in the center of things, it sometimes just involves being friendly. It involves skillfully handling people with careful chose

31、n words to make a desired impression.</p><p>　　The following points are necessary for writing a letter to embody consideration:</p><p>　　A: You-attitude: Compare</p><p>　　We allow 2

32、 percent discount for cash payment. </p><p>　　We won't be able to send you the brochure this month.</p><p>　　You earn 2 percent discount when you pay cash.</p><p>　　We will sen

33、d you the brochure next month.</p><p>　　B: Focus on the positive approach. Compare:</p><p>　　(Positive) We feel sure that you will be entirely satisfied.</p><p>　　(Negative) We do n

34、ot believe you will have any cause for dissatisfaction.</p><p>　　(Positive) Perhaps next time we can send you what you require.</p><p>　　(Negative) we regret our inability to serve you at this t

35、ime. </p><p>　　2.3 Completeness</p><p>　　A business letter should include all the necessary information. It is essential to check the message carefully before it is sent out. All of the reader’s

36、 questions shall be answered to make sure that the reader can gain enough information to evaluate the messages and take action accordingly. Business correspondence, to some extent, is a kind of contract regulating the tw

37、o parties involved. Unnecessary disputes will come into being without completeness of the letters. For example, loss of goodwil</p><p>　　The completeness of business correspondence should include all the nec

38、essary information and date. A correspondence of completeness will bring the sender a good result and the receiver goodwill. To the opposite, a correspondence without completeness may cause increased costs of communicati

39、on. Generally speaking, 5 “W’s” -who, what, when, where, and why or how are used to determine whether the correspondence is complete or not.</p><p>　　2.4 Clarity</p><p>　　The writer must try to

40、express his meaning clearly so that the reader will understand it well. To achieve this, he should try to: </p><p>　　A: Avoid using the words that have different understanding or unclear meaning. B: Pay atte

41、ntion to the position of the modifiers. C: Pay attention to the sentence structure. D: Paragraph carefully and properly.</p><p>　　2.5 Conciseness</p><p>　　To achieve conciseness is to use concis

42、e sentences and fewest words, without losing completeness and courtesy, to explain the meaning of a letter clearly. Since successful business correspondence shall save the reader’s time, there is no doubt that the corres

43、pondence should make statement concise. Long sentences shall be written shortly, the writer, meanwhile, shall avoid unnecessary repetition. To achieve this purpose, the writer shall write in the fewest possible words, be

44、cause a wordy message</p><p>　　To reach the goal of conciseness, we, firstly, should make an effort to avoid wordiness. Short words and phrases, that is to say, shall be used more than long ones. Being more

45、vivid and easier to read, short ones tend to communicate better than long words. One example is as follows:</p><p>　　“During the preceding year, the company was able to accelerate productive operation”.</

46、p><p>　　If we change this sentence into “l(fā)ast year, the company was able to speed up operations”, it will be easier to read and understand, the expression, meanwhile, can save reader’s time. </p><p&g

47、t;　　There is no doubt that those short words and expressions are easier for readers to read and understand. Apart from avoidance of wordiness, redundancies should also be avoided to keep the conciseness of the correspond

48、ence. This is very different from other forms of documents, which rely largely on repetition to achieve the effect of emphasis. Avoiding redundancies is, in other words, to avoid coordinate or synonyms in one sentence.&l

49、t;/p><p>　　The following are the methods of making a letter concise: A: Avoiding using wordy expressions. B: Avoiding unnecessary repetition. C: Using short sentences, simple words and clear explanations. D: Av

50、oiding padded expressions. E: Using subject line flexibly and properly.</p><p>　　2.6 Concreteness</p><p>　　Make the message specific, definite and vivid. The correspondence should be written viv

51、idly, definitely and concretely, especially when writing letters demanding the partner to give definite response or letters concerned with business activities. For example:</p><p>　　We have drawn on you as u

52、sual under your L/C. </p><p>　　The information in this sentence is not so concrete for we don’t know the concrete issues after reading it. Then let’s change it into “we have drawn on you our sight draft No.8

53、45 for the Invoice amount, US$560.00, under your L/C No.246 of the China Bank”. Now everything is clear.</p><p>　　2.7 Correctness</p><p>　　Correctness refers not only to correct usage of grammar

54、, punctuation and spelling, but also to standard language, proper statement, and accurate figures as well as the correct understanding of commercial jargons since grammar mistakes often occur in business writing.</p&g

55、t;<p>　　To conclude, good business writing meets seven basic criteria: completeness, concreteness, conciseness, courtesy, clearness, consideration and correctness. In the following examples of business letters, bo

56、th poor and better business letters are presented. </p><p>　　Example 1 (Poor Writing)</p><p>　　Dear Mr. Hun，</p><p>　　We are in receipt of and would like to thank you for your lette

57、rs and catalogue of June 14, 2006. After close examination we have come to the conclusion that your products are of no interest to us but wish you every success in your future endeavors.</p><p>　　Sincerely,&

58、lt;/p><p>　　(Better Writing)</p><p>　　Dear Mr. Hun，</p><p>　　Thank you for your letter and catalogue sent on July 14, 2006. We appreciate your interest in our company though your produ

59、cts fall out of our line for the time being. We wish you every success in your future endeavors.</p><p>　　Sincerely Yours,</p><p>　　In the above example of poor writing, it seems that the writer

60、 is somewhat self-oriented and only cares about his or her own interest. Besides，it sounds impolite as well. While in the better one, the idea is expressed in a more indirect way, and it is relatively more concise and co

61、urteous. Problems illustrated in the poor example are common in business letters. The contrasts will hopefully clarify the different impacts of poor and better writing on the readers, which will guide conscious efforts&l

62、t;/p><p>　　3 Theories of Pragmatic Principles</p><p>　　Theories are required in any studies to provide the theoretical foundations and conceptual frameworks for the study. Broadly speaking, Pragmat

63、ics is the study of language usage from a functional perspective and is concerned with the principles that account for how meaning is communicated by the speaker or writer and interpreted by the listener or reader in a c

64、ertain context.</p><p>　　For one thing, Pragmatics is concerned with the principles governing the appropriate use of language in a certain context. For another, the main import of an utterance or a letter ma

65、y, in fact, lie not with the thought expressed by the utterance or the letter but rather with the thoughts that the hearer or reader assumes the speaker or writer intends to suggest or hint at. More technically, it lies

66、with what is implicated, or communicated indirectly. Therefore, Pragmatics need to explain how imp</p><p>　　By far, the most influential solution to the problem was developed in the mid-1960s by the Oxford p

67、hilosopher Paul Grice. He argued that people are disposed to presume that communicative behavior is guided by a set of principles and norms, which is called the Pragmatic Principles. In other words, once a set of princip

68、les in communication are broke, the communication may find itself hardly conducted naturally or smoothly in most of the cases. Thus, a set of pragmatic principles are proposed, name</p><p>　　To be specific,

69、Irony Principle refers to avoid criticizing others directly. In another way the speaker or writer adopt the method of saying one thing but meaning the opposite. Not only does it obey the politeness principle, but also it

70、 makes others understand the ironic meaning. As for Banter Principle, in order to express the intimacy of relationship with each other, it’s better to say something that’s untrue and not so polite or formal. According to

71、 Hyperbole and Litotes Principle, it is bett</p><p>　　3.1 The Cooperative Principle</p><p>　　As we have known, an utterance may allow two interpretations in some situations: the literal meaning

72、and the non-literal meaning. In order to account for such a linguistic phenomenon, Grice in 1967 found that tacit agreement exists between the speaker and the hearer in all linguistic communicative activities. They follo

73、w a set of principles in order to achieve particular communicative goals. Thus, Grice proposed the term of the Cooperative Principle and its maxims.</p><p>　　According to the cooperative principle, the parti

74、cipants in a conversation normally communicate in a maximally efficient, rational and cooperative way. They should speak sincerely, relevantly and clearly, while providing sufficient information. （Grice, H.P., 1975）</

75、p><p>　　(1) Quantity Maxim </p><p>　　(i) Make your contribution as informative as is required for the current purposes of the exchange, and (ii) do not make your contribution more informative than

76、 is required.</p><p>　　(2) Quality Maxim </p><p>　　Try to make your contribution one that is true, especially: (i) do not say what you believe to be false and (ii) do not say that for which you

77、lack adequate evidence.</p><p>　　(3) Relation Maxim </p><p>　　Make your contribution relevant.</p><p>　　(4) Manner Maxim</p><p>　　Be perspicuous, and specifically: (i)

78、Avoiding obscurity of expression; (ii) Avoiding ambiguity; (iii) Be brief (avoiding unnecessary prolixity) and (iv) Be orderly. </p><p>　　But in real communication, the participants often flout the Cooperati

79、ve Principle and its maxims. In such cases, conversational implicatures arise.</p><p>　　The term conversational implicature refers to the additional unstated meaning that has to be assumed in order to mainta

80、in the cooperative principle. Conversational implicatures fall into two categories: standard conversational implicature and particularized conversational implicature. Standard conversational implicature (also called gene

81、ralized conversational implicature) refers to the inference that arises from observing cooperative principle and its maxims. Particularized conversational implic</p><p>　　An utterance may be interpreted as e

82、ither observing or flouting the Cooperative Principle by attributing to different contexts. Take for example B's utterance in the following dialogue:</p><p>　　A: May we know your age, please?</p>

83、<p>　　B: I’m nineteen years old. </p><p>　　We may interpret the utterance as the result of observing the Cooperative Principle and thus infer that B is only nineteen years old. If we know that B is, say

84、, fourteen years old, he or she is flouting the quality maxim. In order to maintain the Cooperative Principle, we may infer, among some others, the particularized conversational implicature that B is pretending to be mor

85、e mature or expecting to be perceived as more mature.</p><p>　　In the following example, B flouts the quantity maxim by not making his or her contribution as informative as is required:</p><p>　

86、　A: When are you going to forward the shipment?</p><p>　　B: Sometime this morning.</p><p>　　Here the speaker fails to provide the precise time of his or her going to forward the shipment. The pa

87、rticularized conversational implicature, among some others, is that the speaker does not know the precise time of his or her forwarding. </p><p>　　The following dialogue shows that flouting of the relevance

88、maxim may also give arise to particularized conversational implicatures.</p><p>　　A: The hostess is an awful bore, don’t you think?</p><p>　　B: The roses are lovely, aren’t they?</p><

89、p>　　By uttering a literally irrelevant sentence, B indirectly conveys the particularized conversational implicature “Let’s not talk about the hostess here and now.”</p><p>　　The correct inference of the c

90、onversational implicature presupposes the hearer's mastery of the following knowledge: (1) the conventional content of the utterance, (2) the Cooperative Principle and its maxims, (3) the context of the utterance and

91、 (4) some background knowledge shared by the speaker and the hearer. Conversational implicatures have four distract features:</p><p>　　(1) Inferability</p><p>　　As previously pointed out, conver

92、sational implicatures can be inferred from the utterance on the basis of the Cooperative Principle and its maxims. This is the basic feature of conversational implicatures.</p><p>　　(2) Cancellability</p&

93、gt;<p>　　Cancellability is also called defeasibility. The conversational implicatures of an utterance can be canceled or defeated in certain linguistic or non-linguistic contexts. For example, the conversational i

94、mplicature of the metaphorical expression in (a) is a compliment (e.g. my love is as lovely as a red, red rose), but this complimentary implicature is canceled in (b) by the negative clause added to the end of the senten

95、ce:</p><p>　　(a) My love is a red, red rose.</p><p>　　(b) My love is a red, red rose, but it is withered and decayed.</p><p>　　(3) Open-endedness</p><p>　　An utterance

96、may have different conversational implicatures depending on the different hypotheses made by the speaker and the hearer. For example, the metaphorical expression “money is a lens in a camera” allows two interpretations f

97、rom different points of view:</p><p>　　(a) If we focus on the resemblance in value between “money” and “a lens in a camera”, the sentence implicates “money is as valuable as a lens in a camera;”</p>&

98、lt;p>　　(b) If we emphasize their resemblance in function, it implicates “money can cause people to reveal their true feelings or characters, just as a lens in a camera can reflect and record images of people or things

99、 objectively.”</p><p>　　(4) None-detachability</p><p>　　The conversational implicature is based on the semantic content of the whole sentence rather on part of the sentence or the linguistic for