外贸函电的写作原则运用及语用模糊研究

论文总字数：27960字

摘 要

世界经济的蓬勃发展使得国际贸易的地位不断提高，与此同时外贸函电作为贸易双方交流的桥梁，发挥着极其重要的作用。而为了使交易更顺利或避免可能破坏交易顺利进行的一些语用失误，模糊语言的使用非常普遍。本文以模糊语言在外贸函电中的应用为主，介绍了模糊语言的三种主要表现形式：模糊词语、模糊限制语、模糊结构。在这三种主要表现形式当中，最值得注意的便是模糊限制语。本文后半部分着重介绍了模糊限制语的分类以及其在商务英语信函中的实际运用，通过对实例的分析显示了模糊语言在撰写商务英语信函时不可或缺的作用。

关键词：外贸函电；写作原则；模糊限制语；模糊语言

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Literature Review 2

3. The Main Forms of Vague Language 3

4. The Application of Hedges in Foreign Trade Correspondence 4

4.1 The application of approximators 4

4.1.1 Adaptors 4

4.1.2 Rounders 5

4.2 The application of shields 6

4.2.1 Plausibility shields 6

4.2.2 Attribution shields 6

5. The Functions of Vague Language in Foreign Trade Correspondence 7

5.1 Politeness function 7

5.2 Persuasion function 8

5.3 Self-protection function 8

5.4 Self-promotion function 9

5.5 Communication efficiency improvement function 10

6. Conclusion 10

Works Cited 12

1. Introduction

With the continuous development of economic globalization, international trade has become an indispensable part of the process of economic development. In trade activities, it is impossible for both sides of the trade to meet in person every time, so foreign trade correspondence has become an important way of communication between the two sides. Foreign trade correspondence can play a positive role in the transaction process, because it helps promote and develop the relationship between both sides of the trade. Moreover, it is not difficult to figure out that the writing of foreign trade correspondence does not pursue the beauty of language and the delicacy of emotion, but pays attention to the precise and simple language, polite and clear expression of the intention of the writer, so as to maximize efficiency.

Under these requirements, the existence of pragmatic vagueness phenomenon is not difficult to be found in the actual writing of foreign trade correspondence. Vague language itself may be ambiguous and misleading, it may ruin the trade relations by misused. But it is a dialectical idea, which means the appropriate use of vague language will do great help with the writing of foreign trade correspondence.

A variety of vague language is widely used to enhance the flexibility of language expression as well as make the expression of foreign trade correspondence more polite, appropriate and even protect the rights of the writer to some extent. Moreover, the use of vague language can naturally avoid a lot of unnecessary embarrassment and conflict, making a contribution to the establishment of a good relationship between the two trading parties.

Therefore, the use of vague language is indeed to better improve and polish the content of business English correspondence on the basis of not violating the writing principles of foreign trade correspondence. In a word, this thesis is to figure out what characteristics should a decent and complete foreign trade correspondence have by studying the vague language and its practical application in the actual writing of foreign trade correspondence and realize the importance and necessity of vague language.

2. Literature Review

Since the 1980s, the application of vague language in foreign trade correspondence has been vigorously studied by scholars in the academic circle, among which the pragmatic function of vague language and its classification is the most concerned.

According to WangQi, vague language has six pragmatic functions in foreign trade correspondence, namely, expressing politeness, being persuasive, lacking specific information, self-protection, providing proper information and not wanting to provide details.In addition, by studying the Relevance theory of Speber and Wilson（2002）, she proposed three applicability principles of vague language in business English letters, namely, the optimal applicability of the writer"s pursuit of conveying information, expressing viewpoint, and requiring the reader to respond.（Wang 28）

Cai Hongnv emphasized the positive role of the pragmatic vagueness in foreign trade correspondence. She pointed out that the vague language has made great contribution to efficiency and flexibility of the content of the correspondence. Vague language makes the expression of foreign trade correspondence more polite and euphemistic. It also shows that the vagueness of language can improve the rigor and objectivity of language in the certain context of the correspondence.（Cai 34）

The application of vague language in foreign trade correspondence does not stop at pragmatic functions. Li Yuchong believes that the study of vague language in foreign trade correspondence is of practically social significance to the ever-changing information society.（Li 19）In his opinion, in the specific context of foreign trade correspondence, vague language not only plays its unique pragmatic function to effectively protect the initiative of cooperation between the two parties of the trade, but also gives its own practical significance to the conscious use of vague language by people.

In terms of the application of the hedges, ZhouJuan believes that the main function of hedges in foreign trade correspondence is to avoid making the expression too clear. Besides, considering its application in the writing of foreign trade correspondence, she concluded four characteristics of the hedges in the foreign trade correspondence: implicitness, conciseness, generality and flexibility. Being implicit is to avoid using absolute words and to leave room for the readers to image. Being simple is to use fewer words to express more meanings, saving time and space for both sides of the trade. Being general shows the feature of hedges, which covers similar contents. Being flexible means the flexibility of expression, which can explain the content in many ways.（Zhou 44）

Based on the research on the application of vague language in foreign trade correspondence, this thesis found that there is a knowledge point worth study, that is the main form of vague language. Among the three main forms, the most noteworthy is hedges. Therefore, this thesis analyzes the specific cases of foreign trade correspondence to emphasize the role of hedges and study it from a more detailed classification. Through these analyzes, we can gain a deeper understanding of vague language and realize vague language plays a irreplaceable role in foreign trade correspondence.

3. The Main Forms of Vague Language

There are three main forms of vague language. The first one is vague terms, it mainly refers to the words with unclear extension boundaries, often referring to some common adjectives and adverbs. Such as often, seldom, very, some, a lot, probably and so on. Among them the superlative degree of adjective or those words which express the highest degree often will be used to show hyperbole, and such moderate hyperbole, can leave people room for imagination. In addition, there are also approximate numerals that express the concept of time and quantity, such as after a while, a month or so, four or five days and so on. These words have a range that can go up and down, and are not specifically or meant to be definitive.

The second one is hedges, it first appeared in Lakoff"s monograph: Hedges: a study in meaning criteria and the logic of fuzzy concepts. He defined it as ‘words intended to make things more or less fuzzy’. However, in China, the concept of hedges was not studied and analyzed until the mid-1980s. Professor Wu Tieping, the first researcher of vague language in China, pointed out that the function of hedges is to limit the degree of vagueness of vague terms. As the most typical and common form of vague language, hedges includes adjectives, adverbs, modal verbs, etc. In addition, there are different classifications of hedges in pragmatics. He Ziran divided the hedges into two types from the aspect of pragmatic functions: approximators and shields. Among them, the approximators can be divided into the adaptors and the rounders, while the shields have two categories too and there are plausibility shields and attribution shields.

The last one is vague structure, it mainly includes three types of sentence structure: passive structure, subjunctive mood and negative structure. For example, I’m afraid…, I’m afraid…not…, believed to be…, The application of these three sentence structures can express the writer"s good manners in a euphemistic and uncertain way and give people a lot of room to maneuver. It is mainly used to meet the politeness principle and the cooperation principle. Foreign trade correspondence written in this way will be more acceptable and conducive to the establishment of good business relations.

1. The Application of Hedges in Foreign Trade Correspondence

Among the three main forms of vague language, the most notable one is hedges and the classifications of hedges are very worth studying. So this thesis will mainly introduce the application of hedges in the following part.

4.1 The application of approximators

4.1.1 Adaptors

The approximators refer to those words that can change the original meaning of the discourse. They guarantee the modifiability of the structure of the discourse to a large extent and confined it within a certain limits. It is divided into two categories, one is adaptors, the other is rounders. What will be introduced here is adaptors, which is a kind of word that modifies the original discourse to a certain extent according to the actual situation, making some nearly correct but not completely correct discourse more authentic and decent, and avoiding absolutization. For example, nearly, sort of, a little bit, entirely, kind of, more or less, to some extent etc. Using these words which are not entirely correct may allow the words to become more accurate, more in line with the actual situation.

The following are the sentences used in actual letters to illustrate the application of adapters in foreign trade correspondence.

E.g. Nearly all the examples you saw at our show are obtainable.

The example shows the seller can supply almost all the samples the buyer saw at the exhibition. In this case, nearly is an adaptor. If it is not used here, the buyer will think that the seller can provide all the samples displayed in the exhibition, which is not consistent with the actual situation. After nearly being used, the accuracy of the original sentence is improved semantically to avoid misunderstandings between buyers and sellers.

E.g. Attached is the catalog of all the items available at present, hope some of them will be of interest to you.

The example shows attached is a list of all the goods available now, the seller hope the buyer will be interested in some of the goods. In this case, ‘some’ is an adaptor. It would make the expression overly arbitrary without the adaptor ‘some’. After using ‘some’, the seller"s acceptance will be higher.

E.g. Your reply is a little late.

The example shows the dissatisfaction of the buyer. In this case, ‘a little’ is an adaptor. The tone of the buyer will be very stiff without ‘a little’, which gives the reader an uncomfortable feeling, and the meaning of blame is very obvious. This is not conducive to the display of their own politeness, and is not conducive to the establishment of the next trade relationship, the loss is not worth the gain. Using ‘a little’ not only saves both sides of the trade from embarrassment, but also shows the buyer’s courtesy.

4.1.2 Rounders

Rounders are usually used to make the writing more rigorous, to add a variable scope to the things that are not very sure or specific, so as to effectively avoid trade disputes. It usually has something to do with numbers and it contains a certain range for change. For example, approximately, around, about, essentially etc.

Here are some examples.

E.g. The price you quoted was approximately 15% higher than the American goods.

In this case, ‘approximately’ is used here as a guarantee of rigorous. ‘15%’ here is not an entirely accurate number, but a rough range. After using ‘approximately’, the expression of the price will be more acceptable and unquestionable.

E.g. Our company’s cargo vessels is expected to arrive at Guangzhou around the end of September.

In this case, due to many uncontrollable factors, such as the impact of nature, the seller cannot know the specific date of arrival of the goods. By using ‘around’, if there is a dispute over time, the seller may have some leeway. Besides, the buyer could make timely adjustments according to the actual circumstance.

4.2 The application of shields

4.2.1 Plausibility shields

There is a big difference between approximators and shields. Shields do not change the original meaning of the sentences, but only soften the tone of the original text. Plausibility shields refer to the direct guess of the speaker about something, or the speaker shows that he is skeptical about something. But in order to avoid imposing one’s own opinions on others, plausibility shields play a moderating role. For example, I think, I suppose, I wonder, as far as I know, I am afraid etc.

Following are the examples.

E.g. We think it advisable for you to finish shipping out the cargoes as soon as possible.

In this case, the buyer uses ‘we think’ to gently request and express opinions. By making suggestions this way, the seller can accept it easily and feels respected.

E.g. We wonder if you could send us samples for reference.

In this case, the buyer euphemistically asked for samples for reference. After using ‘we wonder’, a tone of command that causes discomfort can be avoided.

4.2.2 Attribution shields

Attribution shields have a special feature that it mostly uses the third person to express the will of the first person and indirectly express its own views in a way similar to quotation. Compared with the responsibility that plausibility shields needs to undertake, the use of attribution shields leave writers more leeway and save their face to a great extent. For example, it seems, it is said etc.

Here are two examples.

E.g. We are sorry to inform you, your price usually to be on the high side compare to others.

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