商务信函中的模糊语.docx

商务信函中的模糊语.docx

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商务信函中的模糊语

TableofContents

Abstracti

中文摘要ii

1.Introduction1

1.1Researchbackground1

1.2Aimsandobjectives1

1.3Datacollectionandresearchmethod1

1.4Organization2

2.LiteratureReview2

2.1Introduction2

2.2Previousrelatedstudies2

2.3Definitionofvaguelanguage2

2.3.1Theclassicaldefinition2

2.3.2Theworkingdefinition3

2.4Summary3

3.ClassificationsofVagueLanguageinBusinessLetters4

3.1Introduction4

3.2Businesslettersinforeigntrade4

3.2.1Definition,functionofbusinesslettersinforeigntrade4

3.2.2Thebusinessletterswritingprinciples4

3.3Classificationsofvaguelanguageinbusinessletters4

3.3.1Lexicalvagueness5

3.3.2Syntacticalvagueness6

3.3.3Hedges6

3.4Summary6

4.SituationsandPragmaticFunctionsofVagueLanguageinBusinessLetters6

4.1Introduction6

4.2Thesituationsofvaguelanguageinbusinessletters7

4.2.1Conveyingthebadnews7

4.2.2Promotingfurthernegotiation8

4.2.3Lackingspecificinformation8

4.2.4Clarifyingtheobjectivesituation9

4.2.5Withholdinginformation9

4.2.6Requestingtheothersidetocompleteobligations9

4.3Thepragmaticfunctionofvaguelanguageinbusinessletters9

4.3.1Givingmorespaceinfurthernegotiation9

4.3.2Realizingcourtesyincommunication10

4.3.3Enhancingtheflexibility10

4.3.4Strengtheningself-protection10

4.3.5Minimizingthethreattotheotherside10

4.3.6Strengtheningthepersuasiveness11

4.4Summary11

5.Conclusion11

References13

Acknowledgements14

Abstract

Businesslettersplayanimportantroleinbusinesscommunication.Itseffectiveusehasaclosebearingonthewholetransaction.Though“correctness”and“clearness”aretheprinciplesofwritingbusinessletters,undersomecircumstancestheaddressermayemploythevaguelanguagetoconveytheinformationtotheaddressee,sothatitcanfinallyreachtothespecificcommunicativeintentions.

Basedonvariousrelevanttheories,especiallyJoannaChannell’s（1994）researchresults,twentypiecesofbusinesslettersarechosentoanalyzethesituationsandpragmaticfunctionsofvaguelanguageinbusinesscommunication.Thedissertationprimaryexploresthesixsituationsandsixpragmaticfunctionsfromthepositiveaspectofvagueness.

KeyWords:

vaguelanguage;businessletters;situations;pragmaticfunctions

中文摘要

商务信函在商务交际中发挥着重要的作用，它的有效运用密切关系到整个交易的顺利完成。

虽然“准确”和“清楚”为商务信函写作的基本准则，然而在某些情形下，写信者需要运用模糊语言向收信者传达信息，以达到特定的交际目的。

本篇论文在相关模糊理论的基础上，尤其JoannaChannell（1994）的研究成果，结合20则商务信函来分析商务信函交际的运用情景以及语用功能。

从模糊语言的积极方面出发，本篇论文主要探索了模糊语言在商务信函运用中的6种情景及所产生的6种语用功能。

关键词：

模糊语；商务信函；情景；语用功能

1.Introduction

1.1Researchbackground

TheattentionofvaguephenomenoncanbetracedbacktotheancientGrecianphilosophers.Atthattimevaguenesshasarousedphilosophers’attentionthoughitdidnotcomeoutthescientificconception--“fuzziness”.Afterthat,scholarshavestudiedthevaguenessondifferentsubjects.

Vaguelanguageappearsalmostineverycornerofourlifesuchaspoliticaldiscourse,literaryworks,anddailyconversation,andsoon.Previousresearchesshowthatvaguelanguageapplyingtocommunicationresultstotwoconsequences.Firstly,asforthebadside,peoplecan’tgetthedefiniteandexactinformation,whichcausesconfusing;secondly,asforthegoodside,vaguelanguagecanbenefitthespeakerandwritertosatisfydifferentpurposesaslongasitisusedappropriately.

Recentlywiththeboomofforeigntrade,businesslettershavebecomeanindispensablesteptofulfillatransaction.Apartformthe7Csprinciplesofwritingbusinessletters--completeness,clearness,concreteness,conciseness,correctness,courtesyandconsideration,inmanycases,thetwosidesofforeigntrademayusevaguelanguagewhenfallingintothetightcornersuchasconveyingthebadnewstotheotherside,urgetheothersidetocompleteobligations,soonandsoforth.Theappropriateuseofvaguelanguageinbusinessletterscanpromotethefurthernegotiation,realizecourtesy,enhancetheflexibility,andfinally,successfullycompletethewholetransaction.

1.2Aimsandobjectives

Systematicresearchhasbeencarriedoutonthevaguelinguistics,whilevaguelanguageinbusinesslettershasnotbeenpaidsuchenoughattentionasotherfieldslikepoliticaldiscourse,literaryworks,andsoon.

Thedissertationisgoingtoanalyzethevaguelanguageinbusinesslettersfromthepositiveaffectionofvagueness.Thedissertationprimaryaimstoanswerthefollowingtwoquestions:

Whatarethesituationstousevaguelanguageinbusinessletters?

Whatarethepragmaticfunctionsofusingvaguelanguageinbusinessletters?

Byansweringthetwoquestionsabove,thedissertationhopestogivethelearnersofforeigntradeandEnglishabetterunderstandingofvaguelanguageinbusinesslettersandthenwriteeffectivebusinesslettersintheforeigntrade.

1.3Datacollectionandresearchmethod

Thedissertationisdata-based,which“employsanon-experimentalmethod,yieldsqualitativedata,andprovidesaninterpretiveanalysisofthatdata”（Huang&Ghadessy,2008:

20）.

TwentypiecesofbusinesslettersarecollectedfromthecoursebookofforeigntradeandelectronicversionfromtheInternetandtradecompanies.Becauseofthelengthlimitationofthedissertation,someofthecollectedsamplelettersarenotlisted.

Thedissertationanalysesthecollecteddata,whichcombinesthevaguenesstheorywiththeprinciplesofwritingbusinessletters.

1.4Organization

Thedissertationincludesfivechapters.Thefirstoneisabriefintroductionwhichisabouttheresearchbackground,theaimsandmethod,andtheorganization.Thesecondonemovestotheliteraturereviewwhichincludesthepreviousrelatedstudies,theclassicalandtheworkingdefinitionofvaguelanguage.Thethirdoneisprimarilyaboutthebusinessletter’scharacteristicsandclassificationsofvaguelanguageinbusinessletters.Thenitmovestotheimportantsection--theforthchapter,whichisthesituationsandpragmaticfunctionsofusingvaguelanguageinbusinessletters,willbethespecificanddetailedsection,withsixpointsrespectively.Thelastchapterwillmakeasummaryanddiscussesthelimitationofthedissertationandsuggeststhefurtherresearch.

2.LiteratureReview

2.1Introduction

Thischapterstatesthepreviousrelatedstudies,presentingtheinfluentialresearchresultsbythescholarfromdifferenttimes.Andthenitoutlinestheclassicaldefinitionsputforwardbydifferentscholars.Thelastpartistheworkingdefinitionofthedissertation.

2.2Previousrelatedstudies

IntheearlytimeofancientGreece,thevaguephenomenonhasarousedthephilosophers’attention.Eubulidies,theGreecephilosopherbornintheforthcenturyBC,wastheoutstandingrepresentative.

AnotherimpressiveBritishphilosopherRussellwroteafamouspaperin1923entitled“Vagueness”,pointingoutthat“alanguageismoreorlessvague”.Accordingtohisstatement,wecannotcallacolorisgreenbecausethegreencolorcanbedeeporlight;itisnotbecausewedonotknowthemeaningof“green”buttheindefiniteessenceofthesuitablescale.

Inaddition,AustraliaphilosopherWittgensteinin1953suggeststhat“wordsarelikeblurredphotographsandads”,heputforwardandmadeagreatcontributiontothestudyofthevagueness.AmericanCyberneticexpertL.AZadeh（1972:

4）wroteapaper“AFuzzy-set-theoreticInterpretationofLinguisticHedges”.Afterthat,“vaguelogic”and“vaguelinguistics”havebeendeveloped.

InChina,scholarsshowinterestsinvaguelanguageafter1979.WuTieping（1999）isthefirstlinguisttostudyvaguelanguageandintroducethetheoryofZadah.

2.3Definitionofvaguelanguage

2.3.1Theclassicaldefinition

Thereweredifferentpointsofviewonthedefinitionofvaguelanguage,soitcannotreachintoaconsensusagreement.Somethoughtthatvaguenessinlanguagewasbad;whiletheothers:

good.Somepreviousscholarssaidthatusingvaguelanguagewasbecauseoflackoftheprecision,iskindofinadequacytoexpressthethought.Whileothersthoughtthatisagoodthingwhenusedinthesuitablesituations.Forinstance,ifpeoplewanttowithholdinformationtobenefithim,hemayuse“maybe”,“about”,“sometimes”.

Ullmann（1962:

118）pointsoutthat“wordswithblurrededges”.Henotesthat“Ifonelooksmorecloselyatthisvaguenessonesoondiscoversthatthetermisitselfrathervagueandambiguous:

theconditionitreferstonotauniformfeaturebuthasmanyaspectsandmayresultformavarietyofcauses.Someoftheseareinherentintheverynatureoflanguage,whereasotherscomeintoplayonlyspecialcircumstances.”Heattributesvaguenesstofourfactors:

（ⅰ）genericcharacterofwords;

（ⅱ）meaningisneverhomogeneous（i.e.itiscontext-bound）;

（ⅲ）lackofclear-cutboundariesinthenon-linguisticword;

（ⅳ）lackoffamiliaritywithwhatthewordsstandfor.

AnotherapproachtovaguenessbyCrystalandDavy（1975:

111）referstovaguenessasimprecision.“Lackofimprecisionisoneofthemostimportantfeaturesofthevocabularyofinformalconversation,”theystate,andgivefourreasonsforvagueness:

（ⅰ）memoryloss--thespeakerforgetsthecorrectword;

（ⅱ）thelanguagehasnotsuitableexactword,orthespeakerdoesnotknowit;

（ⅲ）thesubjectoftheconversationisnotsuchthatitrequiresprecision,andanapproximationorcharacterizationwilldo;and

（ⅳ）thechoiceofvagueitemisdeliberatetomaintaintheatmosphere.

2.3.2Theworkingdefinition

Vaguelanguageexistsinmanyfieldsofourlife;itiswidelyusedinlanguage.Someinvestigatorsevenwanttoinsistthatalllanguageisvagueinsomeway.Butmostofusdonotrealizethefrequencyuseof