论文总字数：29117字

摘 要

近来，随着信息技术以及经济全球化的快速发展，商务英语函电被更广泛地应用于对外贸易并且作用越来越大。为了写好商务英语函电，合作原则的正确应用就变得越来越重要。所以掌握合作原则的知识对于建立商务关系大有益处。首先，本文介绍了国内外学者对合作原则的贡献，接着结合具体的案例分析如何在商务英语函电中应用合作原则以及违反原则后带来的负面影响。合作原则对于指导商务英语函电有很大帮助。因此，在对外贸易中对合作原则给予高度的重视并且灵活运用是必要的，以此搭建贸易双方的友谊桥梁。

关键词：合作原则；商务英语函电；负面影响

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Literature Review 1

2.1 Background of cooperative principle 1

2.2 Maxims under cooperative principle 3

3. Application of Cooperative Principle in English Business Correspondence 4

3.1 Maxim of quality 4

3.2 Maxim of quantity 5

3.3 Maxim of relevance 5

3.4 Maxim of manner 6

4. Violation of Cooperative Principle in English Business Correspondence 7

4.1 Violation of maxim of quality 8

4.2 Violation of maxim of quantity 9

4.3 Violation of maxim of relevance 10

4.4 Violation of maxim of manner 11

5. Conclusion 12

Works Cited 13

1. Introduction

With the prosperity of global economy and economic integration, English business correspondence, a significance medium of foreign trade, has been widely applied to business communication. For the sake of making business transactions successful, we should pay much attention to the pragmatic principles in business communication. There are two main pragmatic principles: the Cooperative Principle and the Politeness Principle. The purpose of this thesis is to put emphasis on the importance of cooperative principle when the business participants communicate by English business correspondence. Nowadays, the significance of cooperative principle can’t be neglected in English business correspondence. Whether the cooperative principle can be applied reasonably and effectively in English business correspondence directly influences the result of international trade. A good master of knowledge of different cultures and customs in different countries with skillful application of cooperative principle can help enterprises to establish a good image and avoid unnecessary losses in foreign trade. Researches on cooperative principle can help business participants behave better during the process of building business relationship.

2. Literature Review

2.1 Background of cooperative principle

There are so many researchers contributing to cooperative principle not only in domestic countries but also in foreign countries.

In domestic countries, first of all, the research on cooperative principle began with Hu Zhuanglin, who first introduced cooperative principle into China. After a while, Cheng Yumin introduced cooperative principle according to his views in "Grice’s conversational implicature and related discussion". Then, Shen Jiaxuan translated "the second conversational implicature of pragmatics", causing great influence in academic circles. As a result, the cooperative principle gave rise to people’s huge concern and a group of researchers emerged in China. With the exception of those articles, the cooperative principle was also introduced by several researchers such as "An introduction to pragmatics", "A Summary of Pragmatics" by He Zhaoxiong and so on. However, nothing was perfect. The cooperative principle still had some defects. So it was developed with the rise of various theories. For instance, Xu Shenghuan thought that the classical conversational implicature theory didn’t give the mechanism of generating the conversational implicature. Therefore, he made effort to establish the pragmatic reasoning mechanism to increase the explanatory power of cooperative principle. In addition, Suo Zhenyu proposed the general principle —Appropriate principle to govern the communication by combining the actual verbal communication in Chinese, which is convenient for speakers to use and master. These different theories about cooperative principle provide various methods for us to analyze the discourse meaning, which is of great benefit to our communication.

In foreign countries, American language philosopher Grice put forward the cooperative principle for the first time when he gave a lecture on logic and conversation at Harvard University in 1996. However, with the development of research, Grice found that people don’t always observe the cooperative principle. In order to keep the communication going, the speaker sometimes takes the initiative to violate the cooperative principle, thus generating conversational implicature. The conversational implicature theory focuses on the utterance meaning rather than the literal meaning, which requires that the hearer should pay attention to the discourse. It aroused widespread concerns about the meaning of discourse. But as the research further developed, the researchers had to notice its defects. In view of the defects, the attitudes of people vary from person to person. Some people basically affirmed cooperative principle, and made more concrete and detailed formal analysis of its criteria, especially the quantitative criteria. For example, Horne and Gazdar both made big contributions in respect of quantitative principles. Levinson discarded the bad and selected the good of cooperative principle, thus obtaining gratifying results. What’s more, some people supplemented other principles to make cooperative principle richer. There is no doubt that Leech is a typical example of this attitude. On the basis of cooperative principle, he has created another parallel principle, the politeness principle. In addition, others established another principle without considering cooperative principle. Relevance of Sperber with Wilson was such a line of thought. In short, no matter how differently these linguists came to the conclusions, they all thought deeply about the classical Grice conversational implicature theory from different angles, and put forward effective modification or reconstruction schemes based on themselves, which made important contributions to the improvement of cooperative principle.

2.2 Maxims under cooperative principle

In Grice’s speech on Logic and conversation, he said:

Our talk exchanges do not normally consist of a succession of disconnected remarks, and would not be rational if they did. (Grice 44)

So in order to achieve successful communication, people always follow a basic principle that we should provide appropriate words according to the change of purpose or direction of the conversation the speaker participates in. The cooperative principle goes as follows:

Make your conversational contribution such as required at the stage at which it occurs by the accepted purpose or direction of the talk exchange in which you are engaged. (Grice 45)

In order to make cooperative principle more detailed, Grice divided cooperative principle into four maxims with each having several sub maxims below. Here are as follows.

Maxim of Quantity：

1. Make your contribution as informative as required (for the current purpose of the exchange).
2. Do not make your contribution more informative than required.

Maxim of Quality:

1. Do not say what you believe to be false.
2. Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence.

Maxim of Relation：

Be relevant.

Maxim of Manner：

1. Avoid obscurity of expression.
2. Avoid ambiguity.
3. Be brief (avoid unnecessary prolixity).
4. Be orderly. (Grice 45-46)

3. Application of Cooperative Principle in English Business Correspondence

The cooperative principle is of great help in business communication. It is vital in guiding business letter writing and helping both sides to communicate effectively. In order to make people feel easier to understand the cooperative principle, several concrete examples in business are shown as below.

3.1 Maxim of quality

According to Grice’s view, the usage of maxim of quality in English business correspondence mainly means that the content of English business correspondence should be correct and consistent with the facts. Especially, the two parties should be careful about the figures, the commercial idioms and so on. Both parties should abide by the maxim of quality.

Case 1

A: We are sorry to inform you that we can’t take them all at once. No steamboat is available within one month. All the freight spaces are reserved before April 9.

B: I hear that the steamboat is still attainable.

In this case, A had difficulty in shipping all the goods at once and there was no steamboat available in one month. However, B didn’t provide information in a very direct or affirmative manner. Instead, his answer was short of sufficient evidence. To observe the maxim of quality, B used vague verb "hear", which showed that he was not sure whether there were other steamboats under availability. This vague sentence helps to comply with the maxim of quality.

Case 2

In fact, we are still waiting to receive an answer from the shipping company in terms of shipping space since the number of steamboat is small. To be honest, it is difficult for us to attain maritime space. (Liu 63)

From the above case, it is obvious that the writer had trouble in obtaining ocean freight space, but he didn’t hide the truth that he hadn’t obtained ocean freight space. On the contrary, he told the truth and used specific facts to explain the situation and wished the other side to make certain concession and continue to cooperate with their own work. The content of this English business correspondence is specific and persuasive, which is in full compliance with the maxim of quality.

From what have been mentioned above, observing the maxim of quality requires us to tell the truths instead of telling the lies. This maxim helps create a fair trading atmosphere. If one party doesn’t observe the maxim, it may lead to the failure of business transactions.

3.2 Maxim of quantity

From the name of this maxim of quantity, it is obvious to focus on the number of information provided by the speaker, which should be enough to answer the questions. That is to say we just need to answer the questions what the other side inquires about. If we say more about that the other side is not interested in, the business may not go on.

Case 3

Dear Sirs,

Thank you for your enquiry on April 2. We have enclosed the catalogue and the price list you required as well as some samples of our products for you to refer to.

If possible, you can place an order immediately. We are looking forward to your reply.

Yours sincerely (Liu 62)

In this case, from the beginning, it is obvious that this is an offer written by the seller. The seller answered the buyer’s questions completely and respectively including sending the catalogue and the price list of the products, which is no more and less. In other words, the information was all that the buyer needed. So, all his answers provided the required and sufficient information. Therefore, seller was absolutely in conformity with the maxim of quantity.

3.3 Maxim of relevance

The maxim of relevance requires that the content of English business correspondence should be closely related to the present transaction between the parties. Both two parties should observe the maxim of relevance. There is a consensus in business that time is money. So during the business transaction, the two parties should focus on the theme without talking about other irrelevant things, thus saving time and carrying on the communication.

Case 4

If a buyer wants to make business transactions with the seller, he needs to ask for information about the products the seller is supplying. The information includes many aspects such as the quality, price, service and so on. When the buyer wants to know the quality of the products, the seller shouldn’t tell him the price of the products. When the buyer wants to know the service of the products, the seller shouldn’t tell him the service of the products. No matter what the buyer wants to know, the seller just needs to tell the buyer what he wants to know without telling any irrelevant information.

(1) A: What is the advantage of the product?

B: In terms of the package, the quality, and the price, the product is much better than any products.

(2) A: What is the price of the jeans?

B: 150 per pair.

(3) A: When do you ship the goods?

B: On April 9.

In the above reply, all replies are strictly consistent with the maxim of relevance. When A asked questions, the answers given by B were closely related to questions raised by A so that the conversation could continue. Take sentence (1) for instance, if B answered the disadvantage instead of the advantage of the product, then B breached the maxim of relevance intentionally.

Therefore, from the above concrete examples, the reply of a question is built on the question itself. Once the theme of the question changes, the reply should change accordingly, thus complying with the maxim of relevance.

3.4 Maxim of manner

The maxim of manner does not relate to what is said but relates to how what is said to be said. It requires that the information given by the writer ought to be put a nutshell. To be clear and concise, first of all, use short and common words and sentences to replace phrases with complicated words, such as "enclosed" instead of "enclosed herewith", phrases instead of sentences, such as "please write to us" instead of "please don’t hesitate to call upon us". Second, avoid polysemous words or vague words. The usage of polysemous and obscure words may bring about unnecessary misunderstandings.

Case 5

Dear Sirs,

Thank you for your order No.657. We are glad that the goods have been in place.

We regret that the order No.123 did not contain the goods you ordered. We have found the reason that we made a mistake between No.657 and No.123.

We have righted the wrong by dispatching the correct goods to you. And we will enclose the relevant documents against time.

Please keep the order No.123 until the agent informed by us makes the contact with you.

We apologize for the inconvenience caused by our error.

Yours faithfully (Zhu 110)

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