英语论文浅析礼貌原则在商务信函中的应用

Abstract: Today, politeness principle is more and more important in business, and business letter is indispensable in international trade. The characteristics and requirements of the language of business letter have its unique form. And the writing forms and methods of business letter writing are become more and more important. This passage based on previous studies of politeness principle, analyzed the characteristic and the role of politeness principle in business letter. For politeness principle can be paid special attention in business letter writing.
Key words:business letter; politeness principle; characteristic; role
摘要：礼貌原则在如今商务交流中越来越重要，而商务信函也在国际贸易中占据举足轻重的位置，本文结合前人研究成果，浅析礼貌原则在商务信函中的应用特点和作用，帮助人们加强商务信函写作时对礼貌原则的重视
关键词：商务信函；礼貌原则；特点；作用
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Outline：
1. Introduction
2. Literature review
2.1 The concept of “politeness principle”
2.2 The previous studies of politeness principle in business letter
3. The analysis of the usage of politeness principle
3.1 The linguistic feature of politeness used in business letter
3.1.1 The characteristics of personal pronoun
3.1.2 The usage of modal verb
3.1.3 The usage of tense
3.2 The assortment of politeness principle
3.2.1 Application of clarity principle in business letter
3.2.2 Application of correctness principle in business letter
3.2.3 Application of completeness principle in business letter
3.3 The maxim of politeness principle
3.3.1 The usage of agreement maxim in business letter
3.3.2 The usage of sympathy maxim in business letter
3.3.3 The usage of appreciation maxim and modesty maxim in business letter
4. The role of politeness principle in business letter
4.1 The positive effect of principle in business letter
4.2 The negative effect of principle in business letter
5. Conclusion
1. Introduction
With the development of the global economy, business letter has played an important role in modern international trade. Business letter has its own unique characteristics and requirements in the language. The writing forms and methods of writing the business letter are very important. And politeness principle is one of the most important methods of business letter writing.Geoffrey Leech points out that politeness principle has six maxims: tact, generosity, appreciation, modesty, agreement and sympathy. These maxims are methods of principles which discussed in pragmatics and also have directive function in business letter writing. A polite business letter can promote the trade of a deal by valuing other’s point of view and their interest, and make others feel considerately. This passage analyzes the usage of politeness principle and specifically analyzed modesty, agreement and appreciation maxim to help people pay more attention to business letter’s writing skill.
This passage is composed of three chapters. The first chapter has cited Geoffrey Leech’s view-point to explain the concept of “politeness principle” and summarize the previous studies of politeness principle in business letter. The second chapter is a specific analysis of the usage of politeness principle. This part firstly introduces linguistic feature of politeness used in business letter, including the usage of personal pronoun, modal verb and tense. Then further analysis the assortment of politeness principle applied in business letter, involving clarity principle, correctness principle and completeness principle. Besides, the tactics of politeness principle are also discussed in this part, including modesty tactics, agreement tactics as well as tactics. And in the last chapter, both the positive effect and negative effect of this principle in business letter is analyzed.
2. Literature review
2.1 The concept of “politeness principle”
Politeness principle is an explanation for realistic communication. In 1967, in order to make sure the conversation in social life goes well, American linguistic philosopher Herbert Paul Grice had put forward the cooperative principle, which made a major breakthrough in pragmatics. But sometimes when people are talking, their speech usually deviates from the cooperative principle. Then Geoff Rey Leech put forward the politeness principle to replenish and complete the cooperative principle. In Leech’s opinion, when people are talking they should maximize the expression of polite beliefs and minimize the expression of impolite beliefs. This principle is very
important to business letter writing.
2.2 The previous studies of politeness principle in business letter
Politeness has been an important factor affecting interpersonal relationship which attracts the attention of lot of linguists. And various scholars both home and abroad, have given their explanation to this principle from different perspectives. They sum up that business letter is not only an intermediary of communication, but also a method of developing a friendship and attracting clients. When writing business letter, we should not only use all kinds of politeness principle flexibly and improve the express skills of politeness, but also consider all kinds of the context in international trade and use the language tactics rightly to ensure smooth business cooperation. What’s more, t o reply letter in time, use the appropriate language, respect others,be neither humble nor pushy are very important skills in business letter writing.The usage of polite language can embodies the respect to each other. Therefore, the foreign trade staff should know the basic skills of politeness principles in international business correspondence writing well to build up a language bridge of trade.
3. The analysis of the usage of politeness principle
3.1 The linguistic feature of politeness used in business letter
There are many linguistic features in business letter, such as, the usage of Euphemism and modal verb, the roles of personal pronoun and Passive V oice .According to the previous studies, this paper will specially analyze the usage of personal pronoun, modal verb and the tense.
3.1.1 The characteristics of personal pronoun
Personal pronoun is very important in business letter, especially in Britain and American letters. In British English, the wording always needs to be official and the honorific is always used in letters. The most universal honorific is Mr., Mrs., Miss, and Madam. In British letter writing, Mr., Mrs. and Messer are all without abbreviation full stop. On addressing aspects, Dear Sir is the most universal one in business letter. If the company you wrote to has only one person, you must use Sir or Dear Sir and with a comma behind it. In the end of the letter,yours sincerely,best wishes, kind regards, yours truly or yours faithfully should be used.
When we write business letters we also need to pay attention to “you-attitude”. It means we should show that we are always considering about our friends, and show our friendliness and respect to them. Some one said that” Remember that the word b-u-s-i-n-e-s-s contains both U and I, but the U comes before the I. This is a good progression for you to remember.” That is a good explanation for “you-attitude”.
In order to explain “you-attitude”, the second person i s always being used.
(1)To meet your requirement, we are willing to make snore concessions to cut 3%of our price if the quantity of your individual purchase is not less than 50 tons.
This example easily showed us that whether you want to give information or convince others to buy your goods, the most noticeable thing is the words “you” and” your”. Because the usage of the second person can make an impression on you are focus on your partner. That makes your partner feel that you are considerate and polite
e.g.2:
(1)We are pleased to announce that…→ Y ou will be pleased to know that…
(2) We want you to do it. →Y ou will no doubt do it
In this example, sentence 2 is much better than sentence 1. It is more considerable, It is fully affirmed that the reader is the center of this business ship,
3.1.2 The usage of modal verb
The past tense of modal verb has a function that can relax the mood. It can make the letter more polite by using with some words, like wonder, hope, and wish and so on.
e.g.:
(1)It is wondered if you would allow partial shipment. I was wondering if you
could furnish us with the information about this company.
In this sentence, the writer wants to get information about the company, and show his respect to the reader. Here, the writer puts the reader in a leading role and make the reader feel respected. Left leeway for the other party
3.1.3 The usage of tense
In business letter, whatever you want to claim, to complains or to denies the clause, your wording requires to be polite, your tone should be tactful.
When we write, fristly, we should use declarative sentence and question frequently, imperative sentence and negative sentence are avoided. Declarative sentence is widely applied in narrative, explaination and it is unnecessary to express individual emotional by it. And question in letters is a best way to show politeness. Secondly, passive voice is needed to express negative significance. Compared with passive voice, initiative sentence always expresses something about blame, always make others feel your tone is aggressive. That is unfavourable to build a harmonious relationship. On the contrary side, the sentence which uses passive voice is more circumbendibus and objective.For example:
e.g.1:
(1)A very careless mistake was made during the course of shipment.
(2)What if the inspection cannot be completed within the time limit?
In these examples, sentence B is more polite than A. It can help the final solution of this problem.
e.g.2:
(1) Y ou damaged the case.
(2) The case was found to be damaged
Sentence two used the passive voice, and avoids blaming the parties. And reduce the embarrassment of the subject.
Lastly, we should be good at using the past tense and progressive tense. Some words’ past tense has a test function, it can express request, suggestion and advice indirectly and show more politeness than present tense
3.2 The assortment of politeness principle
Generally speaking, business letter writing should insist on keep the following principles:consideration, completeness, clarity, conciseness concreteness, correctness and the most important one: courtesy.
Politeness principle is not the only means to be polite, but also should consider the whole things on the side of “you-attitude”.
3.2.1 Application of clarity principle in business letter
Clarity principle is that all the sentences in the letter should be clear and show the authentic intention definitely. Avoid double meaning of representation. To show other person the mean idea straightforward with the simplest words.
e.g.:
(1)As to the steamers sailing from HongKong to Japan, we have bimonthly direct
services.
In this sentence “bimonthly”has double meanings, make this order ambiguously.Whether the ship sail twice a month or once for two months is a question.This may delay the shipment.
So, we must pay special attention to clearity principle in business letter writing.
3.2.2 Application of correctness principle in business letter
Correctness principle means when we wrote, we should use the language and punctuation mark correctly. Because business letter is involved in the interest, duty and stake of both the sale and buyer, mistake is not allowed in writing. It is not understatement or overstatement. Correctness include: correct narration, correct language, correct words, correct understanding and usage of trade terms and correct
use of another six Cs.
e.g.:
(1)This stove is absolutely the best on the market
The purpose of this sentence is to introduce the stove, but it shows nothing about the stove’s function. Instead of a comprehensive in troduction, it makes a conclusion straightly. This will not achieve the purposes, on the contrary will make customers feel like cheating. So to be correct is important in trade. It is a link between another six Cs.
3.2.3 Application of completeness principle in business letter
Business letter should deliver the message completely, including the person, the time, the place, the reason and the method.
(1) “Cellulose Tape 1/2”* 3yds, with plastic dispenser 700doz/ditto-but 1/2”* 5yds,
1,000 doz.”
This is an order about the name of commodity, quantity and the type of goods which received by export merchant. But this order is not completely. The word “ditto” here means the cellulose tape mentioned in the beginning but “with plastic dispenser” can not be concluded in it. So whether the plastic dispenser is need or not is unclear. That will be easily misunderstoo d and waste both the sales and buyer’s time.
3.3 The tactics of politeness principle
In Leech’s opinion politeness principle has six maxims:
1. Tact maxim: Minimize the expression which harmful to other’s beneath.
2. Generosity maxim: increase the expression which harmful to yourself.
3. Approbation maxim: Always praise others.
4. Modesty maxim: Do not always speak highly of yourself
5. Agreement maxim: Try the best to make an agreement when you two have different opinions
6. Sympathy maxim: Try your best to lessen the disgust.
Among these six maxims, agreement, sympathy and appreciation are very important in writing. And the following sections will analyze these three maxims by giving examples.
3.3.1 The usage of agreement maxim in business letter
Agreement tactics is used in formulation. When sales and buyers have different opinions, agreement tactics can reduce the divergence and ensure successful the negotiation.
(1)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 as10 percent.
In this example, the writer recognized that the quality of the goods is better than others before pointing out that the price is unreasonable. This eliminates the barrier of negotiate
(2) :( a)Unfortunately this is our rock bottom price; we can not make any further
reduction.
(b) I am really sorry t hat our products panhandle satisfy your requirement.
(c) We are looking forward to t he pleasure of hearing from you as soon as.
(d) Y our immediate at tension would be appreciated.
Compare these four sentences and you will find out that positive presentation and cooperative presentation can make the whole sentence more polite and faithful.
3.3.2The usage of sympathy maxim in business letter
This maxim is used for declaration. During the process of foreign trade this maxim is always used for expressing one’s sympathy and solicitude or the wish to give a hand to others.
(1)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 show their sympathy, the writer used“be anxious to” to emphasize their wish of compensate the loss.
3.3.3 The usage of appreciation maxim and modesty maxim in business letter
The appreciation maxim and the modesty maxim are corresponding to each other. They are both used for declaration. The only difference between them is the difference of the considering object. These two maxims are used in the preparatory stage of trade. They always use “you-attitude” instead of “my-attitude” to exaggerate the grateful feeling.
(1)It goes without saying that we are very much appreciating the support you have
extended us in the past.
The usage of “it goes without saying” is an exaggeration of the grateful to the recipient.
(2)We are regretful that we just cannot see our way to entertain your counteroffer,
as the price we quote is quite realistic.
In t his sentence, “just” and “see our way to” increased the expression which harmful to yourself.
Both of these two examples are modest. And all of these showed the writer’s respect to the reader.
4. The role of politeness principle in business letter
4.1 The positive effect of principle in business letter
As a basic principle of business letter writing, politeness principle plays an important role. It can help build a friendly, equality atmosphere in trade and make others willing to consociate with us.
A polite letter can help a company build a nice image and bring a lot of business opportunities. On the contrary, an impolite letter will make a negative effect to a company and may break the business.
Positive presentation in business letter can not only lead a happy ending but also cause a negative ending. It will make the reader feel disappointed in the way which the writer always emphasizes on the negative aspect. In that way, when we are writing, we should avoid writing negative information.
e.g.:
(1)Y our ord er will be delayed for two weeks. →Y our order will be shipped in two
weeks.
(2)We close at 5 p.m. →we are open till 5 p.m.
By comparing these two examples we can easily find out that a positive sentence can bring confidence and hope in the reader and make the sentence more polite.
4.2 The negative effect of principle in business letter
The basic requirement of positive presentation is to protect the rights of others in their personal information. Try to be polite, respectful and avoid extruding yourself and writing with negative attitudes. Reduce the stress of others.
5. Conclusion
Business letter plays an important role in a transaction. It is not only a mean to develop a friendship but also a way to attract the client.
Today, in business, it is mostly through business letters that exporters and importers bridge the differences and reach a fair and mutually satisfactory deal.In order to write a good English letter, politeness principle is specially needed in writing. Maximize the politeness principle can strengthen friendly relations and promote business dealings. And undeserved language or back-talk will bring harm to each other and causing mutual misunderstanding and communication failure. That will lead to lose business opportunities. In this paper, we have mentioned the linguistic feature, the assortment and the maxims of politeness principle during writing business letter. And according to all the above mentioned, we should pay special attention to the
usage of “you-attitude”. Besides, we should write considerately, completely, clearly, concisely, concretely, correctly and politely. We should understand the other party's feeling as much as we can and always using some words to express thanks to others. Also we should avoid using discriminatory language to make a good impression to others.
In a word, how to be more polite and be easily accepted by others in business letter writing is a question which should not be neglected.
Finally, I hope the above mentioned implications that can make more people a better understanding of the importance of politeness principle in business English letters.
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