英语专业论文外贸英语的重要性.docx

英语专业论文外贸英语的重要性.docx

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英语专业论文外贸英语的重要性

1Introduction

1.1TheNecessityofDoingResearch

AsChinaentersWTO,tradingaffairsbecomemorefrequentforpeople,thesignificanceofforeigntradeEnglish（FTE）becamemoreandmoreprominent.ThoughsomeofthebusinesspersonnelhavebasicabilityforcommunicatinginEnglish,theyarenotquitefamiliarwiththelanguagecharacteristics（LC）ofFTEleadingtosomemisunderstandingbetweenthetwosidesofnegotiation[1].Further,suchkindofmisunderstandingmaydamagecorporateidentity.Therefore,itisnecessarytodosomeresearchonLCofFTE.

1.2TheThemeandWritingPurposes

ThepapermakessomeanalysisoftheapplicationofcooperativeprincipleinforeigntradeEnglishandsumsupthelanguagecharacteristicsofFTE,aimingtohelpbusinesspersonnelinvolvedinforeigntradingtousethelanguagetoolofFTEmorefelicitously.

1.3ForeignTradeEnglishandCooperativePrinciple

Astheglobalizationofeconomy,foreigntradewillbecomemoreandmorefrequent.Howtosurviveincompetition,toenlargemarket,tomakeprofits,towin?

Themostimportantandusefulweaponiscooperativeprinciple（CP）.Generallyspeaking,Englishconversationinforeigntradingaimstoachievesuccessfuldealingortofurtherbusinessrelationshipsoastomakeprofitsintheend.Withthetwopurposes,thetwosidesoftheconversationcooperatewitheachother.Therefore,theyneedtoobeyCP[2].Inaddition，thefourmaximsofCParecloselyconnectedwiththelanguagecharacteristicsofforeigntradeEnglish（FTE）.Generally,FTEhasthefollowingcharacteristics:

（I）Exactness:

FTE,especiallybusinessletters,iscloselyconnectedwiththerightsanddutiesofthetwosidesofnegotiation.Therefore,FTEneedtobeexact.

（II）Completion:

Businesslettersneedtobecompleteincontentfortheyarelegalcontractstosomedegree.Ifthecontractsarenotcompleteincontent,theymaygiverisetounnecessarydisputes.

（III）Concreteness，clearness，conciseness：

FTEneedtobelively,specificanddefinitetoavoidmisunderstanding.Atthesametime,FTEneedtoavoidbeingwordyandtoomuchrepetition.Usingtheleastwordstoexpresscompleteinformationclearly.

Allthesecharacteristicsarereflectedinthemaximsofcooperativeprinciplerespectively.Obviously,itisagoodwaytosumuplanguagecharacteristicsofFTEthroughanalyzingtheapplicationofCPinFTE.

2Grice’sTheoryofCooperativePrinciple

2.1TheDeprivationofCooperativePrinciple

Asasub-fieldoflinguistics,pragmaticsstudieshowpeoplecomprehendandproduceacommunicativeactorspeechactinaconcretespeechsituation,whichisusuallyaconversation（henceconversationanalysis）[3].Whilethenotionofconversationalimplicatureasoneofthesinglemostimportantideasinpragmatics（weshalloftenrefertothenotionsimplyasimplicatureasashorthand）,referstoanindirectorimplicitmeaningofanutterancederivedfromcontextthatisnotpresentfromitsconventionaluse[4].Unlikemanyothertopicsinpragmatics,implicaturedoesnothaveanextendedhistory.ThekeyideaswereproposedbyGriceintheWilliamJameslecturesdeliveredatHarvardin1967andstillonlypartiallypublished（Grice,1975,1978）.OneGrice’stheoryofimplicaturebringsforwardcooperativeprinciple,abbreviatedasCP[5].

2.2CooperativePrincipleandItsFourMaxims

Grice’stheoryofcooperativeprinciple,inwhichhedevelopstheconceptofimplicature,isessentiallyatheoryabouthowpeopleuselanguage.Grice’ssuggestionisthatthereisasetofover-archingassumptionsguidingtheconductofconversation.Thesearise,itseems,frombasicrationalconsiderationsandmaybeformulatedasguidelinesfortheefficientandeffectiveuseoflanguageinconversationtofurthercooperativeends.Griceidentifiesasguidelinesofthissortfourbasicmaximsofconversationorgeneralprinciplesunderlyingtheefficientcooperativeuseoflanguage,whichjointlyexpressageneralcooperativeprinciple.

Theseprinciplesareexpressedasfollows:

Thecooperativeprinciple:

Makeyourconversationalcontributionsuchasrequiredatthestageatwhichitoccursbytheacceptedpurposeordirectionofthetalkexchangeinwhichyouareengaged.

Themaximofquality:

trytomakeyourcontributiononethatistrue,specifically:

（I）Donotsaywhatyoubelievetobefalse.（II）Donotsaythatforwhichyoulackadequateevidence.

Themaximofquantity:

（I）Makeyourcontributionasinformativeasrequired（forthecurrentpurposeoftheexchange）.（II）Donotmakeyourcontributionmoreinformativethanisrequired.

Themaximofrelation:

makeyourcontributionsrelevant.

Themaximofmanner:

beperspicuous,andspecifically:

（I）Avoidobscurityofexpression.（II）Avoidambiguity.（III）Bebrief（avoidunnecessaryprolixity）.（IV）Beorderly[6].

Amongthefourmaxims,theformerthreemaximsarerelatedto“whatissaying”,theforthoneisrelatedto“howtospeak”[5].Inshort,thesemaximsspecifywhatparticipantshavetodoinordertoconverseinamaximallyefficient,rational,cooperativeway:

theyshouldspeaksincerely,relevantlyandclearly,whileprovidingsufficientinformation.

Tothisviewofthenatureofcommunicationthereisanimmediateobjection:

theviewmaydescribeaphilosopher’sparadise,butnooneactuallyspeakslikethatthewholetime.ButGrice’spointissubtlydifferent.Itisnotthecase,hewillreadilyadmit,andthatpeoplefollowtheseguidelinestotheletter.Rather,inmostordinarykindsoftalktheseprinciplesareorientedto,suchthatwhentalkdoesnotproceedaccordingtotheirspecifications,hearersassumesthat,contrarytoappearances,theprinciplesareneverthelessbeingadheredtoatsomedeeperlevel[5].

3TheApplicationofCooperativePrinciple

3.1TheMaximofQuality

3.1.1Definition

Themaximofquality:

Trytomakeyourcontributiononethatistrue,specifically:

（I）Donotsaywhatyoubelievetobefalse.（II）Donotsaythatforwhichyoulackadequateevidence.

3.1.2ApplicationandtheLanguageCharacteristics

Onerequirementofthemaximis“Donotsaythatforwhichyoulackadequateevidence”.Inbusinessletters,especiallyinmakingcomplainsandcounterclaim,businesspersonnelshouldchoosewordscautiously.Concrete,specificwordsratherthangeneral,vaguewordsmaybemuchmoreappropriate[7].Usingexaggeratedwordsmaydoharmtoyourreputation,evenunabletosolveasingleproblem.

e.g.1:

Weorderedwell-driedgoodsoffinequality,butyouhavesentusprunestotallyunmerchantableandunfitforconsumption.

Usingtwogeneralwords（theunderlinedwords）whichfirmlysquashthegoods,thesentencestillhasnotexpresstowhatdegreethegoodsmetamorphoseclearly.Ifweuse“inaverymaggotystate”or“inahalf-rottenstate”instead,thesentencewillappearmuchmorespecific.Obviously,toobeythemaximofqualitysoastobeactualandaccurate,businesspersonnelshouldpaymoreattentiontodiction.

e.g.2:

Weboughttheair-conditionerinyourstorethreemonthsago.Theshop-assistanttoldmethatyouwouldrepairitformewithinonemonth.Butuptonownoonehascometodoityet.

Itisobviousthattheword“repair”isusedwronglyinthesentence.Customersneverbuyanair-conditionerwhichisoutofworkandwaitforthesellershaveitrepaired.Itseemsthattheauthorwanttoexpressthemeaningof“fix”.Besidesoftheword“fix”,“install”isanotherwordwhichcanexpresssimilarmeaning.Insomecases,thereisnoproblemindiction,butmeaningisnotaccurateenough.Takethefollowingsentenceforexample.

e.g.3:

Ourwashing-machinehasitsunusualdesign.

Inthesentence,using“unique”insteadof“unusual”canshowtheoriginaldesignofthewashingmachinemuchbetter.

Throughtheanalysesofthethreeexamples,wecansumupthatforeigntradeEnglish（FTE）hasthelanguagecharacteristic（LC）ofaccuracy.Besides,formalnessisanotherLCthatthemaximofqualitycanshowinFET.Comparedwithinformallanguage,formallanguageismorelikelytogivepeoplethirddimensionandtendstobemorebelievable.Formallanguageincludesformalwordsandformalsentences.Usually,formalwordsarethoseusedinwritingratherthanthoseusedinspeaking,dialectorslang.Forinstance,peopleseldomuse“tell”toexpressthemeaningsof“inform”,“notify”,“acknowledge”andsoon.Whileformalsentencesshouldmeetthefollowingtworequirements:

tomeettherequirementofthetypeofwriting;toexpresstruemeaningcompletely[7].Tobespecific,theformerrequirementmeansthelanguageshouldbesimple,natural,superb,coincidentwiththestyleofwriting,whilethelatermeanstendingtouseinvolvedsentenceswhensimplesentencescannotexpressmeaningadequately.

e.g.4:

InreplytoyourletterofAugust10th,2003,weregrettosaythatweareunabletoentertainyourcounter-offerfor2000dozensetsofArtNo.208Ladies’pajamasat$23.00perdozensets.

e.g.5:

Weacknowledgereceiptofyourletterdatedthe3rdthismonthenclosingthesalescontractinduplicatebutwishtostatethataftergoingthroughthecontractwefindthatthepackingclauseinitisnotclearenough.

3.2TheMaximofQuantity

3.2.1Definition

Themaximofquantity:

（I）Makeyourcontributionasinformativeasrequired（forthecurrentpurposeoftheexchange）.

（II）Donotmakeyourcontributionmoreinformativethanisrequired.

3.2.2ApplicationandtheLanguageCharacteristics

Themaximofquantitylimitswhatbusinesspersonnelshouldsayincommunicating——Makeyourcontributionasinformativeasrequired（forthecurrentpurposeoftheexchange）.Businesslettersrequirebusinesspersonneltouseconciselanguagetosendintegratedinformationsoastoletther