Politeness-Usage-in-English-Business-Letters

毕业作业作业题目：PolitenessUsageinEnglishBusinessLetters（英文论文）系别：外国语学院专业：商务英语班级：08商英（1）班姓名：学号：指导老师：完成时间：年月日PolitenessUsageinEnglishBusinessLetters(Outline)I.IntroductionII.DefinitionofpolitenesstheoriesIII.ApplicationsofpolitenessstrategiesinEnglishbusinessletters1)Baldon-record2)Positivepoliteness3)Negativepoliteness4)Off-record(indirect)5)Don’tdotheFTAIV.AdditionalformsofpolitenessinbusinesswritingV.PrinciplesofbusinesswritingVI.SummaryPolitenessUsageinEnglishBusinessLettersAbstract：Withtheglobalizationofeconomy,Englishbusinesslettersprovetobeanessentialmeansofcommunicationsintheinternationaltrade.Thispaperdiscussesthathowtoapplypolitenesstheoriesofpragmaticstoourbusinesswriting,whichabsolutelyheightensourwritingabilityofbusinessletters.Keywords:Politeness，BusinessEnglish，Writing，StrategyofPoliteness摘要：随着经济的日益全球化，商务英语函电成为对外经济贸易往来必不可少的交流方式。本文运用语用学中的相关礼貌原则研究了如何恰当使用礼貌策略提高商务英语函电的写作能力。关键词：礼貌；商务英语；函电写作；礼貌策略I.IntroductionSincethe1970s,manyscholarsofpragmaticshavebeguntodevoteattentiontothesignificanteffectofwordsofpolitenessonspeechcommunications,andthenthewordingofpolitenesswasexpandedintoabranchofpragmatics.Lakoff,BrownandLevinson,andLeechadvancedtheirpolitenesstheoriesinordertosettlesomeproblemsofsocialinteractionindailyspeechcommunications.SinceChinajoinedtheWTO,businessactivitiesandinformationexchangesacrossbordershavebeenincreasingrapidly.Todayalmostallthebusinesscommunitiesrecognizewithoneconsentthesignificanceofessentialcommunicatingskills,forallbusinessactivitiesrelyonsatisfactoryexchangeofinformation.Amongalltheseveralcommunicationstools,businesslettersremainadispensablepartofbusinesscommunication.Hence,businesslettersareattachedmoreandmoreweightwitheachpassingday.Inthemeantime,Ibelieveitismeaningfulandworthwhiletoapplythepolitenesstheoryofpragmaticstoourbusinesscorrespondence.II.DefinitionofpolitenesstheoriesPolitenessisgenerallyregardedasbehavingorspeakinginawaythatiscorrectforthesocialsituationyouarein,andshowingthatyouarecarefultoconsiderotherpeople’sneedsandfeelings.Theoriesofpolitenessinpragmaticscanexplaintremendousphenomenaoflanguageusage.Leechheldthatthetheoryofpolitenessmainlydeterminetheformofpeople’sspeech.Also,BrownandLevinsonconsideredthatthepolitenesstheoryisofuniversalsignificance.Amongthemultitudinoustheoriesofpoliteness,inthemonographUniversalsinLanguageUsage:PolitenessPhenomena(1978)alongwithitsrevisededition,BrownandLevinsonelaboratedtheirtheoryofpolitenessinasystematicway.Thispolitenesstheoryposesthreebasicconcepts:face,facethreateningacts(FTAforshort),andpolitenessstrategies.BrownandLevinsondefinefaceas“thepublicself-imagethateverymemberwantstoclaimforhimself”(1978:66).Theythendividedfaceintotwoseparate,butrelatedaspects---positivefaceandnegativeface.Tosomeextent,positivefaceconcernsthedesiretobeappreciatedandapprovedofbyselectedothers;andnegativefaceconcernsaperson’swanttobeunimpededandfreefromimposition.Whenanactofverbalornonverbalcommunication“runscontrarytothefacewantsoftheaddresseeand/orthespeaker”(1978:70),thisiscalleda“face-threateningact”(FTA).Anexampleofaspeechactthatthreatensthehearer’sfacewouldbearequest,becausethismeansthatthespeakerisimpedingonthehearerbyaskingthehearernottodowhatthehearerwants,butrathertodowhatthespeakerwants(Fasold1990:161).Ontheotherhand,aspeechactthatthreatensthehearer’spositivefacewouldbe“acontradictionorexpressionofdisagreement,whichmeansthespeakerthinksthereissomethingwrongwithanopinionheldbythehearer”(Fasold1990:161).AnotherassumptionBrownandLevinsonmakeisthatthespeakeris“endowedwith…apreciselydefinablemodeofreasoningfromendstothemeansthatwillachievethoseends”(Brown&Levinson1978:63).TheybelievethatapersonwillconsiderthebestpolitenessstrategypossiblebeforeperformingaFTA.Thestrategieswhichtheydiscusscanbegroupedintofivesuper-strategies:on-record,positivepoliteness,negativepoliteness,off-record(indirect),and“don’tdotheFTA”.III.ApplicationsofpolitenessstrategiesinEnglishbusinessletterBusinesslettersgetinvolvedinallthelinksoftheforeigntrade,suchasestablishingtraderelations,makinganinquiryoranoffer,orsettlingaclaim.Thus,itmattersalothowthelanguagestrategiesareused.Therefore,itisnecessarytoemploythepolitenessstrategiesofPragmaticswhenwritingbusinessletters.Theuseofpolitenessstrategiescaneffectivelymaintainownface,atthesametime,upholdthefaceoftheotherside,whichmakesawin-win.Belowweillustratewithexampleshowthepolitenessstrategiesof“BrownandLevinson”areemployedinEnglishbusinessletters1）Baldon-recordBaldon-recordstrategiesusuallydonotattempttominimizethethreattothehearer’sface,althoughtherearewaysthatbaldon-recordpolitenesscanbeusedintryingtominimizeFTAsimplicitly.Oftenusingsuchastrategywillshockorembarrasstheaddressee,andsothisstrategyismostoftenutilizedinsituationswherethespeakerhasacloserelationshipwiththeaudience,suchasfamilyorclosefriends.InEnglishbusinesscorrespondencewriting,the“baldon-record”strategycanbeusedwhenthetransmittedinformationisbeneficialtobothsides.Forexample:Wecanassureyouthatthemarketforourgoodsinyourcityisverylargeatpresent.Youcanjustplace