论文总字数：36314字

摘 要

随着经济一体化的发展，中国与其他国家的经贸合作越来越频繁。作为一种重要的国际贸易业务往来交流手段的商务英语信函, 在建立和维持商务关系方面起着至重要作用。本文基于Leech的礼貌原则，重点探讨了礼貌原则在好消息类和坏消息类商务信函中的应用方式。本文首先强调商务英语信函应用礼貌原则的重要性, 然后分析礼貌原则，最后探讨礼貌原则在商务信函中的实际应用。通过对好消息类和坏消息类商务英语信函的分析，能够帮助人们在国际商务沟通中更好地运用礼貌策略，优化沟通效果，促进合作。

关键词: 礼貌原则；商务英语信函；应用

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Literature Review 2

3. Leech’s Politeness Principle 3

4. Application of Politeness Principle in Business English Letters 4

4.1 Expressions of the positive business letters 5

4.2 Expressions of the negative business letters 7

5. Conclusion 14

Works Cited 16

1. Introduction

Business English letter is one of the media of international trades, an important means of communication for both sides to understand each other, and an important tool for foreign economic activities as well. Letters can represent the company"s image, and show the company"s level and strength. A good business letter can bring an unexpected result, impress each other deeply, help to promote and develop the relationship with customers and play an active role in promoting new transactions. But poorly written letters may leave a negative impression on partners. Polite business letters are able to help establish a good relationship between business partners. When it has great differences in status and identity between the communicating parties, the powerful party will issue orders to the other party by virtue of its own advantages. Thus, it is necessary to adopt politeness principle and politeness strategy.

Also, according to the content of the letter, business English letters can be divided into inquiry letters, quotation letters, confirmation letters, notifications, receipts, sales letters, rejection letters, invitations, thank-you letters, instructions, claims and claims letters. According to the nature of information, it can be divided into ordinary news, good news, bad news and persuasive news (Stewart 380-382). Good news business letters and ordinary business letters are also known as daily business letters, mainly including inquiry and quotation letters, order letters, thank-you letters, confirmation letters, payment letters, etc. Bad news business letters contain unfavorable information to the addressees, such as complaint and claim letters, business warning letters, etc. Persuasive business letters are designed to persuade the addressees so as to make writers write a letter, such as promotional letters, application letters and reminder letters.

Finally, the business letter has a distinctive style,and it is mainly reflected in the choice of words, the use of words and the specialty of meanings, Specifically speaking: 1) words remain normative and formal; 2) words are accurate and professional; 3) polysemy(Wangamp;Xiao 173). Last but not least, the criteria for effective business letter-writing includes clarity, completeness, conciseness, correctness, concreteness and courtesy (Zhu 37-38).

This paper mainly introduces the politeness principle and its application in business English letter writing in terms of positive business letter and negative business letter. Its application mainly refers to vocabulary, voice, tense and sentence.

2. Literature Review

Based on the comprehensive analysis and induction of relevant theories such as Brown and Levinson’s face-saving theory, especially criticism of Goffman"s speech act theory and Grice"s cooperative principle, Leech, British linguist, put forward the politeness principle. He held that people consciously or unconsciously comply with certain linguistic principles in verbal communication, i.e. between the speakers and the hearers, and they should express courtesy as often as possible and minimize impolite expressions.

Chinese scholars, like, Pan Lanlan, Lu Yaoyao whose data analysis and quantitative study also have confirmed that Leech"s politeness principle has a positive and universal guiding significance for human speech and behavior and the ways of expressing politeness in different cultures. And the politeness of judgement are different. Pan Lanlan studied the application of Leech"s politeness principle from the aspect of English teaching. She believed that teachers should use the politeness principle reasonably to coordinate the relationship between teachers and students, to develop teaching activities, to improve the quality of classroom teaching and students" English communicative competence, and to realize the goal of foreign language teaching as well. Lu Yaoyao studied the comparison of politeness principle between Chinese and English from the perspective of intercultural communication. She believed that mastering the similarities and differences between Chinese and English politeness principles could reduce misunderstandings and disputes in intercultural communication.

For my part, I plan to study the application of politeness from the perspective of business negotiation, to point out how to skillfully use language to improve the negotiation atmosphere, improving the trust between negotiators, and increase the chances of successful negotiations.

3. Leech’s Politeness Principle

"Face-saving theory", which was put forward by Brown and Levinson is, so far, the most influential theories of politeness. They believed that speech acts were essentially a threat to human face. For example，requests threaten negative faces, while criticisms threaten positive ones. Politeness arises when people use strategies to reduce face-threatening behavior (Chen 9). Also, politeness is a rational behavior adopted by rational "model person" to satisfy human face. Politeness is to alleviate the threat to face caused by certain communicative acts, so as to achieve the purpose of maintaining the face of oneself and others. People need positive face and negative face. Positive face means that people hope to get approval, love, appreciation and respect from others; negative face means that people want to enjoy freedom and their actions are not disturbed or violated by the outside world.

One of the main means of expressing politeness is the usage of language. What is politeness and how to express politeness have always been the most important topics in pragmatics. Thus, politeness strategies play an important role. According to the degree of compensation from the speaker to the listener, politeness strategies include: public face-threatening behavior, positive politeness strategy, negative politeness strategy, private face-threatening behavior and no face-threatening behavior. Publicly implementing face-threatening behavior is a direct face-threatening strategy, which is usually used in emergencies and situations where the speaker has absolute power over the listener. In emergencies, the "clarity principle" of information transmission is far greater than the "politeness principle" (Lakoff, 73), that is to say, the importance of information content exceeds the way of information transmission.

Similarly, when there are great differences in status and identity between the communicating parties, the powerful party will issue orders to the other party by virtue of its own advantages. Positive politeness strategy is to make the hearer"s desire affirmed, respected and praised, and to maintain the positive face of the other party. Brown and Levinson (Brown amp; Levinson 102) put forward 15 positive politeness strategies, which can be understood in three ways: to show that the two sides have consensus, cooperation and meet mutual wishes. The purpose of passive politeness strategy is to show that the speaker will not interfere in the will and action of the other party, and fully safeguard the private sphere and self-decision-making power of the other party. Negative politeness strategies mainly include apologizing, expressing respect, ambiguity and leaving room for each other. Private face-threatening behavior is more ambiguous than the above-mentioned strategies. The speakers who adopt this strategy are more ambiguous in their speech acts and let the listeners guess the meaning of the words. In this way, the speaker not only avoids direct interference in the hearer"s actions, but also avoids the embarrassment when his request is rejected by the other party. None of face-threatening behavior is the most compensatory and polite speech act. This strategy gives the listener the greatest choice. Even if it fails to achieve the communicative purpose, neither face of the two parties is harmed.

In view of face-saving theory and politeness strategies, Leech put forward politeness principle. Politeness, in Oxford English-Chinese Dictionary, means courteous behavior, good manners; courtesy remark or act; and politeness principle includes (1) tact maxim: minimize cost to other; maximize benefit to other. (2) generosity maxim: minimize benefit to self; maximize cost to self. (3) approbation maxim: minimize dispraise of other; maximize praise of other. (4) modesty maxim: minimize praise of self; maximize dispraise of self. (5)agreement maxim: minimize disagreement between self and other; maximize agreement between self and other. (6) sympathy maxim: minimize antipathy between self and other; maximize sympathy between self and other (Leech 90-91).

1. Application of Politeness Principle in Business English Letters

It is known that politeness principle can explain many politeness phenomena in language communication in life. In business English letter writing, it can promote communication, so that the relationship, between the two sides of communication, will be more harmonious. Analyzing and discussing the politeness principle in business correspondence writing are helpful to improve business English writing and teaching ability. Also, Politeness is the most noteworthy linguistic feature of business English letters. Polite business English letters can effectively deepen the trust of both sides of the trade and improve the possibility of success. The correct use of politeness principle can help the addressers write a decent English business letter to achieve win-win business activities.

However, different kinds of business letters mean that we should use different methods to polish them. Now, l want to analyze the politeness principle from the following aspects: positive business letters and negative business letters.

4.1 Expressions of the positive business letters

Positive politeness is to satisfy the hearer"s desire of affirmation, respect and praise. Positive business letters refer to letters used to convey good news or information that readers are willing to receive, mainly including thank-you letters, invitations, congratulations, etc. There are 4 strategies, including direct expressions, using specific and positive words, affirmative sentences, positive tones etc. The strategies closely related to business English letter writing are discussed below.

4.1.1 Direct expressions

Good news or ordinary news is usually expressed in a direct way. This kind of information usually starts with the main idea, followed by supporting details, and ends with good wishes (Zhu 42). For example：

(1) we are now writing you for the purpose of establishing business relations with you.

(2) We learned on the Internet“soft-root polar battery” in Germany and would like to know more information about it, such as the investment amount, technology feasibility and the market. We are also interested in manufacturing electric products and environments-friendly products.

The two samples are elected from Business Writing and the first one expresses directly the establishment of business relation which can make addressee better understand addresser’s attention. The second one directly expresses the thoughts of seeking for business partners which can make addressee much clearer without wasting his time. Both samples reflect agreement maxim.

Also, We begin with the direct group, which includes two strategies: imperatives and performatives (Leech 147). For example:

(1) Help yourself. (imperatives)

(2) Have a good day. (imperatives)

(3) we hope to be of service to you in the near future. ( performatives)

(4) We look forward to receiving your order. ( performatives)

4.1.2 Specific and positive words

In business letters that convey good news, according to Leech"s appropriateness criterion, the writer should choose active and happy language to convey information concretely so that the reader can see at a glance and realize the writer"s warm concern for the reader, so as to achieve the purpose of writing letters. For example：

(1) Congratulations on your great success.

(2) Congratulations on your success of first prize in Math.

These two sentences come from two congratulatory letters on the same topic. Sample (1) is indeed a congratulatory expression, but the words used by success are too vague. The reader may feel that the writer does not care about himself, even if he made success in any aspect. According to the politeness principle, the writer should exaggerate the praise to others and minimize the derogation to others. According to common sense, when the general reader is sure to make a great success in some aspects, we will express our congratulations. Otherwise, the reader may mistake it as a satire. Sample (2), the words are specific and appropriate to express the congratulations of the reader. Similarly, for example：

(1) The need for creative waste management solution is increasing this year.

(2) With solid waste increasing at over 15% this year, the need for creative waste management solutions has becoming urgent.

It is obvious that sample (2) makes the recipient have a practical understanding of the information by adding the specific reason and number.

4.1.3 Affirmative sentences

To express positive and good news, using affirmative sentences is very important. Leech believed that affirmative sentences can exaggerate support or praise for readers and create a friendly atmosphere. Now, let’s compare the following sentences.

(1) We will not arrange a shipment unless you send us your bill of lading.

(2) We will arrange a shipment quickly as soon as we receive your bill of lading.

In the above examples, sample (1) complains that the reader can"t ship the goods without receiving a bill of loading, which damages the reader"s face and violates the face theory of politeness principle. However, sample (2), by the positive and affirmative words, expresses the shipper’s desire to arrange the shipment.

4.1.4 Positive tones

A positive tone can build up the confidence of the addressee in his ability to solve problems, enhance personal feelings and strengthen business contacts. Especially when it comes to persuading and expressing good intentions, positive words often help us achieve our goals better. (Zhu 43). Now, let’s compare the following sentences. For example:

(1) we think your opinion may be reasonable .

(2) we are able to reduce the price of our cotton by 11%.

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