英语委婉语在商务信函中应用的必要性.docx

英语委婉语在商务信函中应用的必要性.docx

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英语委婉语在商务信函中应用的必要性

TheNecessityoftheApplicationofEnglishEuphemisminEnglishBusinessLetter

英语委婉语在商务信函中应用的必要性

学院

郑重声明

本人的学位论文是在导师指导下独立撰写并完成的，学位论文没有剽窃、抄袭等违反学术道德、学术规范的侵权行为，否则本人愿意承担由此产生的一切法律责任和法律后果，特此郑重声明。

学位论文作者（签名）

年月日

Abstract:

Somepeoplethinkeuphemismsareimplicitandhardtounderstand,inmyopinion,withthehighly-civilizeddevelopmentofthesociety,moreandmoreeuphemismswillbeappliedintopracticaluse.Peoplewillbemoreawareofthepolitenessduringcommunication.ThisthesisfirstexploresthedefinitionoftheEnglishbushinessletterandeuphemism.Onthebasisofthedefinitions,wecanknowmoreaboutEnglisheuphemismssuchasitsoriginandclassification.ThenitdiscussedwhatthePolitenessPrincipleis,whattherelationbetweenEnglisheuphemismandPolitenessPrincipleisandhowEnglishEuphemismsworkunderthePolitenessPrinciple.Finally,wegettheconclusionthattheappropriateusageofEnglisheuphemismcanrevealthemostpowerofpoliteness.

Keywords:

Englisheuphemism;EnglishBusinessLetter;PolitenessPrinciple

摘要：

本文主要阐述了什么是委婉语，以及商务英语信函。

在此基础之上，又讨论了委婉语的产生的原因及其分类。

由使用委婉语的目的与礼貌原则相一致，逐步讨论了英语委婉语,在礼貌原则的指导下，在具体的商务英语信函语境中，如何取得礼貌的效果。

关键词：

英语委婉语；商务英语信函；礼貌原则

Contents

PartOne.Introduction…………………………………………………………1

PartTwo.Definitionofbusinessletter…………………………………………2

PartThree.DefinitionofEnglisheuphemism……………………………………3

PartFour.TheOriginandtheclassificationofEnglisheuphemism……3

4.1TheOriginofEnglishEuphemism………………………………………3

4.1.1Thepsychologicalinfluence…………………………………………3

4.1.2Theculturalreason…………………………………………………5

4.2TheclassificationofEnglisheuphemisms…………………………5

4.2.1EnglisheuphemismsinanarrowSense……………………………6

4.2.2EnglisheuphemismsinabroadSense………………………………6

PartFive.ThenecessityoftheapplicationoftheEnglisheuphemisminEnglishbusinessletter…………………………………………………8

5.1ThePolitenessPrinciple………………………………………………8

5.2ThenecessityofusingEnglisheuphemisms………………………10

5.2.1Choiceofword……………………………………………………10

5.2.2Subjunctivemood…………………………………………………11

5.2.3Passivevoice………………………………………………………12

PartSix.Conclusion………………………………………………………………14

Bibliography…………………………………………………………………15

TheNecessityoftheApplicationofEnglishEuphemisminEnglishBusinessLetter

Part

.Introduction

Theyearsfrom2008to2010havebeenthehardestperiodforforeigntrade,becausethewholeworldhasbeensufferingfrom“economiccrisis.”Itissaidthattheeconomiccrisisisaninevitablephenomenonforcapitalizedsociety.However,thatisnotthekeypointinthisthesis.Thepointthatmattersisthesayingofthe“economiccrisis”.Whenpeopletalkaboutthecrisis,theGreatDepressioninyearof1930swillcomeintotheirmind.Andthen,theassociatedwordswhichhavenegativemeaningsuchashunger,poverty,emotionalupsetandlaid-offworkswillattackpeople’snervecontinuously,whichmakespeoplenervous.Thesekindsofwordsmakepeoplefeeluncomfortable.Mostpeopleintendtousesomewordswhichsoundmuchsofterinexpressingthenegativewordsinapleasantway.Forinstance,theusageofeconomicdownturn,economicslumporrecessionisobviouslyagoodsubstitutionfortheeconomiccrisis.Thenervousnesscausedbytheword“crisis”disappeared.ThatisthemagicalfunctionofEnglishEuphemism.

SomepeoplearguethatEnglishEuphemismisimplicitandevenhypocriticaltosomedegreebecause,ononehand,peopleutterthepleasantwordscoveringtheirrealnegativeintentiontopleaseothers;ontheotherhand,euphemismturnsthesimpleandclearcommunicationintothecomplicatedsituation.However,Idonotagreewiththat.IthinkitismorethannecessarytouseEnglisheuphemismsineverycornerofsociallife.ItiswellknownthatpeopleatallclassesnomatteryouareChineseorAmerican,havetheirface.Whattheysayorwritewilldefinitelyinfluencetheirrelationwithothers.Andalso,Peopleuseeuphemismtobepoliteinthatalotofsayingsexpressinginadirectwaywillprobablyberude.Forinstance,whenreferringpeople’sdeath,wecancomparethetwocasesasfollowing:

A.Iamsorrytohearyourhusband.

B.Iamsorrytohearyourhusband’sdeath.

Trytoimagineifyouareinthiscontext,whichsayingyouthinkisacceptable?

Nodoubtthatthefirstoneismoreacceptable.Thespeakeravoidsusingtheword“death”,whichequalsdesperationandhopelessness,thenavoidhurtingthehearer’sfeelingagain.Fromthecasesabove,wecanseethatmostpeoplewouldliketousesomepositivewordstosubstituteforthenegativemeaningwords.Especially,inbusinessworldsuchkindofformaloccasion,EnglishEuphemismisusedintentionallytopleaseothersasaresultofthefiercecompetitioninbusinessworld.Thebusinessworldislikeabattlefield,andappropriateusageofEnglisheuphemismislikehavingaswordathand,ithelpstogetthefinalvictoryinthisfield.

Part

.DefinitionofBusinessEnglishLetter

Inforeigntrade,businessletterplaysanimportantrole.Becausethecustomerandthesellercannottalktoeachotherfacetoface,thebusinesslettershouldersbuildingupthenewoverseasrelationship,andthefirstimpressionoftheinlandcompanyfortheoverseascustomerstogetisthebushinessletterfromtheseller.So,peoplewilltrytheirbesttobepolitesoastoattractthecustomer’sattention.

Sinceitissoimportant,weshouldknowitbetter.Whatisbushinessletter?

Businesslettersliterallyrefertotheletterswhichcanbeusedasameansofformalcommunicationamongthecorporations,thegovernmentandtheofficialorganizations.FromwhereIstand,IwouldliketomainlyfocusontheEnglishbusinessletterswhichmeanstheformalcontactbetweencompaniesinforeigntrade.Accordingthequalityoftheinformationthecorrespondencestake,therearethelettersfunctioningastobuildupacooperationrelation,toquote,tomakeanorder,toconfirmsales,toclaimandtogivethanks,etc.Duringeachphaseoftheirfurtherrelationshipdevelopmentofthetwoparties,Englisheuphemismscanbeseen.UsingEnglisheuphemismshasaveryclearpurposeforbusinessmen,anditisbecauseofthisclearpurposeandfunctionofbusinessletterwhichdecidethewayitexpresses.ThewayofexpressingthingsreflectstheattitudeofthepersonwhowrotetheEnglishbusinessletterandtheimageofthewholecompany,what’smore,ithasthepowertodeterminewhetherthetwopartieshavethechancetocooperateandtobesuccessful.Therefore,inordertostartthebusinessandcooperatefriendly,EnglisheuphemismsareusedveryofteninEnglishbushinesscorrespondence.SinceusingEnglisheuphemismsisatrend,weneedacomprehensiveunderstandingofthem.

Part

.DefinitionofEnglishEuphemism

.1TheDefinitionofEnglishEuphemisms

Theeuphemismisdefinedindictionaryasarhetoricaldevice:

”substitutionofamildorvagueorroundaboutexpressionforharshorbluntordirectone”（ConciseOxfordDictionary,7thedition,1982）.Italsohasaconcretemeaning:

“apolite,tactful,orlessexplicitwayusedtoavoidthedirectnamingofanunpleasant,painful,orfrighteningreality”（Webster’sThirdNewInternationalDictionary,1961）.

Accordingtothesetwodefinitions,theeuphemismisdefinedas“anexpression”or“away,”whichisnotnecessarilyrestrictedtothelexicallevel.Theoretically,manylinguisticmeanssuchasphonetic,grammatical,semantic,pragmaticmeansandrhetoricaldevicescanbeappliedinordertoachieveanaim.Therefore,weshouldnotthinkthattheeuphemismonlyshouldberestrictedtothelexicallevel.

Actually,inourdailylife,euphemismscanbeseenandheardeverywhere.Itsfunctiondeterminesthescopeofitsusage.Ineachfield,peoplewouldtrytobepoliteandleavepeopleagoodimpression.Noonewantstoberude.Therefore,euphemismsarelargelyused.Alanguagewithouteuphemismswouldbeadefectiveinstrumentofcommunication（Enright,1985）.

Part

.TheoriginandtheclassificationofEnglisheuphemism

Afterafiercediscussionofthedefinitionoftheeuphemisms,weneedmovetothephasewhichcouldtellhowtheEnglisheuphemismcameintobeingandhowitisclassified.

4.1Theoriginofeuphemism

TherearetwomainfactorswhichcontributetotheoriginofEnglisheuphemism.Thefirstoneisthepsychologicalreason,andtheotheristheculturalreason.

4.1.1Psychologicalreason

Inancienttimes,thesciencetechnologyisbackward.Theabilityforpeopletoexplorenatureisverybackwardeither.Themysteriousnatureisamythforpeopletounderstand.Theycannotunderstandwherethewindcomes,howthelighteningcameintobeing,notmentiontounderstandthenaturalphenomenonsuchasvolcaniceruption,tsunamiandearthquake.Thiskindofignoranceleadstofeartonatureandthefeartonaturegraduallyturnsintosuperstition.Meanwhile,lackofknowledgeonlanguagecausestheconditionthatpeoplethinkthatthelanguagehassupernaturalpowerandlanguageitselfistreatedasasymbolofeithergoodluckorbadluck.Asaresult,peoplecombinethelanguageandthesuperstition,thatistosay,thelanguagetheyspeakhasthesupernaturalpower.Itcaneitherblesssomeoneordestroyitcompletely.So,whenspeaking,peopleareverycautiousinusingwordsexpressingwealandwoe.Peoplearefrightenedbythesupernaturalpowerrepresentedbylanguage.Justlikeasaying“SpeakofaDevilandheappears.”peoplewilltrynottospeakoftheDevil.Ifhehastospeakit,hewilluseanotherwaytoexpressit.Then,frompsychologicalangle,peoplewillfeelcomfortableandsafe,becausehedidnotspeakofthedevildirectly,thedevi