论文总字数：33992字

摘 要

全球的深入带来了中美之间频繁的贸易往来。委婉语的使用在商务谈判中非常普遍，为了创造良好的商务环境，人们常通过一种礼貌而又间接的方式陈述自己的观点，提出要求，同时还不损害谈判双方的商务关系和谈判进程。作为商务谈判中的润滑剂，委婉语的使用能够顾及对方的面子，使得谈判顺利进行。基于前人的研究分析，本文利用文献分析法和案例分析法探讨委婉语的定义及其在商务英语谈判中所起到的作用，包括礼貌、禁忌、掩饰功能，总结委婉语在商务英语谈判中常见的语用方法，即虚拟语气法、被动语态、过去时态、否定弱化法。本文基于对中美商务谈判真实案例中委婉语的分析，能够帮助人们更加深入的探究委婉语，从而进一步促进中美之间的商务谈判。

关键词：商务谈判；委婉语；语用方法

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Literature Review 2

2.1 Definition of euphemism 2

2.2 Previous studies on euphemism in business negotiations 2

3. Functions of Euphemism in Sino-US Business Negotiations 4

3.1 Politeness function 4

3.2 Taboo function 7

3.3 Disguise function 8

4. Pragmatic Usages of Euphemisms in Sino-US Business Negotiations 9

4.1 Subjunctive mood method 9

4.2 Passive voice 10

4.3 Past tense 11

4.4 Negative weakening method 12

5. Conclusion 12

Works Cited 14

1. Introduction

With the further development of economic globalization, business negotiations between China and the United States are becoming more and more frequent. As an international language, English plays an important role in business communication between different countries, especially in the cross-cultural business negotiation. It is a complex process of reaching an agreement through continuous consultation. Due to the great differences between the two sides in politics, economy, culture, values, positions and other aspects, people are usually used to using English as the carrier of cross-cultural business negotiations in order to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings, fully understand the intentions of both sides, and promote the smooth progress and success of negotiations. In the process of negotiating in English, in addition to paying attention to the content of the negotiation, expression methods and skills should not be ignored. As a language skill often used in business negotiations, euphemism is the “lubricant” in negotiations, which is conducive to the two sides to state their views and suggestions politely, avoid conflicts and embarrassment, create a good negotiation atmosphere and environment, and improve the efficiency of negotiations (Jiang 106). Its purpose is to prevent overly direct words from hurting others’ feelings, improve the tense atmosphere, and protect personal face. Face is that everyone wants to maintain their own public self-image. This phenomenon itself is related to people’s psychological cognition, everyone has the behavior of maintaining face, hoping to get others’ respect and recognition. This kind of demand is universal and irresistible, and is related to the ability, the “sense of belonging” and the “sense of achievement” and other psychological needs deep inside. It will more or less dominate people’s behaviors. It can be said that people’s psychological and social needs make euphemistic language behaviors necessary in negotiations, especially when the other party is required to change its position, make concessions, or state the other party’s unfavorable situation to safeguard its own interests. Euphemistic expressions have obvious pragmatic effects as well.

This thesis discusses euphemism from three major parts: definition of euphemism, functions of euphemism in Sino-US business negotiation, pragmatic usages of euphemism in business negotiations on the basis of literature researches and case analyses. Generally speaking, there are three major functions of euphemism in business negotiations: politeness function, taboo function and disguise function. Also, there are four main pragmatic usages of euphemism in the business negotiations. During the business negotiations, euphemism is considered to be the “lubricant” to comfort the atmosphere, maintain self-image and keep a long-term relationship. Through the research of different expressions and methods of euphemism, we can do better in the business negotiations in the coming future.

2. Literature Review

2.1 Definition of euphemism

A euphemism is a generally innocuous word or expression used in place of one that may be found offensive or suggest something unpleasant. Some euphemisms are intended to amuse, while others use bland, inoffensive terms for concepts that the user wishes to downplay. Euphemisms may be used to refer to taboo topics (such as disability, sex, excretion, or death) in a polite way, or to mask profanity. The purpose of using euphemism is to slow down the stimulation of certain things or topics which may bring to the audience, play a role in buffering and lubricating and make communication achieve better results.

Euphemism is a polite language pragmatic strategy which is frequently used in business negotiations. Its prominent purpose is to prevent hurting others’ feelings, improve the tension in the negotiation process, and make the language polite. At the same time, using euphemism appropriately can stop the negotiations from getting stuck.

2.2 Previous studies on euphemism in business negotiations

After entering the 21st century, with the increase of business negotiation, the research scope of English euphemism has become more and more extensive. Many scholars have analyzed the social functions, characteristics and forms of English euphemism.

Gan Changyin believes that the psychological emotion of the negotiators is one of the factors that affect the negotiation process. One of the possible results of the negotiation is that the two sides can maintain good business relationship after the agreement is reached. Therefore, one of the criteria to evaluate the success of a negotiation is harmonious cooperative relationship, and euphemisms are the embodiment of this harmonious relationship (Gan 48).

Chu Shenghua and Zhang Kunyuan state that the importance of fuzzy language, especially hedges in language use is increasingly recognized. On the basis of pragmatic principles, the pragmatic importance and strategies of hedges in business negotiation are analyzed (Chu Zhang 289).

Lin Yuhui, on the basis of exploring the meaning of euphemism and its function in business English negotiation, he summarized the common grammatical realization of euphemism in business English negotiation. It is suggested that the proper use of euphemism is helpful to achieve the purpose of negotiation (Lin 260).

English linguist Leach put forward the politeness principle as the principle of euphemism, which includes six principles: appropriation, tolerance, praise, modesty, consent and sympathy. Euphemism is one of the polite languages, which is to regulate people’s language behavior in politeness. Leach believed that the cooperative principle and the politeness principle should complement each other to form a complete theoretical system of conversation (Leech 1983).

In Brown and Levinson’s face theory, the core theory is “face threatening acts”, that is to say, there are always some factors which damage the face of the other party or oneself to some extent. There are many “face threatening acts” in business English negotiations, such as claims, insurance, etc. People inevitably need the other side to make recommendations, advice, requests or even orders (Brown amp; Levinson 1987).

To sum up, the previous researches on euphemism have limited studies on euphemism in specific business negotiation cases. Therefore, based on the specific dialogues in the Sino-US business negotiations, this thesis analyzes the pragmatic uses of euphemism from four aspects: subjunctive mood method, passive voice, past tense, negative weakening method, intending to help English learners and business negotiators gain a deeper understanding of the use and role of euphemisms in specific contexts. It is evident that euphemism will play an important role in the smooth progress of Sino-US negotiations in the future.

3. Functions of Euphemism in Sino-US Business Negotiations

3.1 Politeness function

During business English negotiation, sometimes in order to consider others’ face, to create a good atmosphere for the negotiation, the use of polite language can not only get the good impression of others to promote the negotiation, but also can reflect good culture. For example, “not that good” is often used instead of “so bad”, which is the politeness function of euphemism and the most important function of euphemism. In addition, the core idea of the politeness function is to praise others and express what you want to say in a tactful way. Obesity and death are topics that westerners are not willing to discuss. For example, when describing a person who is fat, you’d better use “you are plump/strong” rather than “you are fat”. In addition, “industrial action” is often used to replace “strikes”. Use “you can do it better” instead of “you didn’t do it well” (Hu 164).

3.1.1 Tact maxim

Brown, Levinson’s “face theory” and Leach’s “courtesy principle” are instructive to teachers and students’ language communication. Among them, Leach’s “tact maxim”, “accordance principle” and “sympathy criterion” are especially important. Chinese culture values the principle of modesty, while Western culture emphasizes the principle of being decent. Desalination of its own benefits reflects the tact maxim of politeness. This thesis introduces the tact maxim and their actual cases. Speakers minimize detrimental views to others, and maximize beneficial views to others and minimize the loss of others and to benefit others on the basis of tact maxim. When facing the unreasonable demands in the business negotiations, the negotiators must be decent in words and deeds. In his article Analysis of the Impact of Cultural Differences on Sino-US Business Negotiations: Based on Cases of Business Negotiations between Canwall and China Wallpaper Manufacturers, Gu Wenming mentioned the following case.

Case 1 In the negotiations between Canwall and the Chinese wallpaper manufacturers in China, Burton and Raines, the representatives of the US, repeatedly raised unreasonable demands on the quality and price of the goods. In order to avoid the deadlock in the negotiations, the Chinese representative has always nodded the request for the US personnel and agreed with some points of them. After responding with a smile, the negotiations proceeded smoothly. Afterwards, the Chinese personnel negotiated and explained with the Americans and finally reached a deal. (Gu 20)

Analysis: In this case, the Chinese personnel faced the unreasonable demands of the US representatives. In order to make the negotiations proceed smoothly, the US conditions were not directly denied. From a polite point of view, this took the other’s face into consideration. It embodied the principle of maximizing the other side’s point of view in the decent standard. Therefore, the negotiation can be made smoothly and the final transaction can be finished. The tact maxim not only took good care of each other’s face, but also contributed to the negotiation. It played an important role.

3.1.2 Praise maxim

Praise maxim is to reduce the derogation of others. It is generally divided into two concepts. First, try to belittle others as little as possible. Second, try to praise others as much as you can (Gao 50). In the Sino-US business negotiations, one of the parties in the negotiations should try to avoid direct criticism on the other party. For the problems in the negotiations, the negotiator must not only tell the problem, but also not hurt the self-esteem of the other party. Using some relatively euphemistic sentence patterns or derogatory words will play a role in minimizing others.

For example, the phrase “the quality of products offered by you is so bad” is too highly critical of the other party and does not take into account the other party’s face, which may lead to a deadlock in the negotiations. But “I would like to apply it if the quality has been given by you is good” not only expresses dissatisfaction with the quality of the goods, but also takes the face of the other side into consideration. In Gan Changyin’s Euphemistic Expressions in Business Negotiation’, a case is provided:

Case 2 An American company agency engineering company went to China to negotiate export engineering equipment transactions with Chinese companies. The Chinese side raised criticism based on its quotation and suggested that the other party should consider the competitiveness of the Chinese market and the company’s first entry into the market. The Chinese party Seriously considered improving prices. After explaining the explanation, the agent still did not bargain and said how reasonable the price of its client is. The Chinese side analyzed the conditions again, and the agent explained it again. There was no result in the morning. The Chinese believed that it is too arrogant and stubborn. The agent believed that China had no sincerity to purchase and had no ability to understand. Both parties blamed on each other and the negotiations are not happy. (Gan 46)

Analysis: In this case, during the negotiations, the Chinese representative directly criticized the offer of the US representative, and did not take into account the feelings and face of the US representative. Although the Chinese personnel analyzed the quotation, the US personnel did not accept it, and even blamed on each other. The actions of both parties were not in line with the principle of praise in the use of euphemism in business negotiations, and ultimately led to the disappointment of the negotiations.

3.1.3 Sympathy maxim

The sympathy maxim is to consider from the perspective of the other party, to think for the other party, to understand the dilemma of the other party is the requirement of sympathy guidelines. In business English, “It is a pity that, we are sorry” is often employed to convey sympathy to each other. In the negotiation, the feelings of the other party can be well taken care of, which is conducive to achieving the desired negotiation effect. Such as, “I feel sorry that we cannot meet your demands.” The case is shown in Lin Yuhui’s Functions and Grammatical Means of Euphemism in Business English Negotiation.

Case 3 Dan Smith, an American fitness dealer, was Liu’s first encounter with him. In just a few minutes of conversation, Robert Liu felt both the rugged exterior of the man and the mind of the crafty hare-he must be a veteran of the battlefield, and he must not take it lightly. The first response from both sides was as follows:

D: I want to talk about prices.

L: Shoot. I’d be glad to answer any questions you will ask.

D: Your products are very good. But I’m worried about the prices you offer.

L: You think we about be asking for more?

D: That’s not exactly what I had in mind. I am sorry that your research costs are high, but what I’d like is a 25% discount. (Lin 250)

Analysis: In this case, Dan Smith was dissatisfied with the price of Mr. Liu’s product, but did not directly raise it: “I am sorry that your research costs are high, but what I’d like is a 25 % discount.” This sentence not only shows dissatisfaction with the over-quote of the other party. At the same time, there is sympathy. Compared with the direct point of view, this move can reduce the other party’s dislike.

3.1.4 Agreement maxim

Agreement maxim is aimed to reduce the inconsistency you and other people have. It is divided into two aspects, one side to minimize the differences between the two sides, on the other hand to maximize the agreement between the two sides. In the business negotiations between Chinese and American, agreement maxim needs the negotiators to reduce discrepancy and expand uniformity when facing some unpleasant conditions.

As is shown in the case 3, the price offered by Mr. Liu was too high for Dan Smith to accept. Dan Smith did not directly reject Mr. Liu’s offer, but affirmed the quality of his product before pointing out that his product price was too high. This reduced the differences between the two parties, avoided the embarrassment of negotiations, and enhanced the consistency between the two parties.

3.2 Taboo function

“Taboo” function is another important function of euphemism. In fact, the root of euphemism is to avoid taboos. The euphemism’s evasive function is related to language taboos. People’s misunderstandings of the relationship between language and the real things make taboo. Things are not presented in the language, but can only be presented by euphemism. Thus, avoiding taboos and reducing boggle becomes the first communicative function. In business negotiations, negotiators are supposed to focus on the language use, and try to avoid touching the other party’s taboos.

Many people believe in Christianity. There are many language taboos in Christianity. To mention the name of the Lord God at random is to read the God, the Lord and the Lord Hua will convict him. So, people use the creator, the Maker or our father instead of God. In addition, with the development of human civilization, in English-speaking countries or in China, sexual behavior, reproductive excretion and other expressions involving bodily secrecy are considered as vulgar. Thus, in the interpersonal communication, people will avoid direct reference, and will use some less embarrassing expressions. Such as, people tend to use “I need to powder my nose” instead of “I want to go to toilet”. Here is the case in Hu Erjuan’s A Study of the Formation and Function of English Euphemism.

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