403.pdf writing ielts

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Analysis of Politeness Strategy in Convivial Business English Letters

Fang Kan

Xuchang University, Henan Xuchang, 461000 China

Keywords:politeness strategies, Politeness Principle, convivial letters

Abstract.This thesis takes Leechs Politeness Principle(PP) as the theoretical framework to revealhow the politeness is achieved in convivial letters. The thesis uses the case analysis as researchmethod to demonstrate how PP guides the use of polite language in convivial letter writings at

different levels, namely, at lexical, syntactic and discourse level.

Introduction

In the convivial letters, the illocutionary goal is compatible with the social goal, or rather, theillocutionary goal and social goal match. Therefore, the convivial letters are aimed to present thefavorable information and establish sound business relationship. The convivial letters may includecongratulation letters, approval letters, appreciation letters, acceptance letters, offers letters, orderletters, etc. (Gilsdorf, 1989) As the convivial letters are polite and courteous in nature and themessages are positive, the more direct it is, the better it is.

To make the convivial letters effective, politeness is an important decisive factor determining

what language to use and what structure to follow. This thesis intends to adopt Leechs PolitenessPrinciple (PP) as the theoretical framework to analyze convivial business English letters by casestudy method.

Theoretical FrameworkLeechs Politeness Principle

Leechs PP deals with the relationship between two involvers in communication, namely, self andother. He models after Grices CC, and he divides the politeness principle into a number of maxims.

1) Tact Maxima. Minimize cost to other.

b. Maximize benefits to other.

2) Generosity Maxima. Minimize benefits to self.

b. Maximize cost to self.3) Approbation Maxima. Minimize dispraise of other.

b. Maximize praise of other.4) Modesty maxima. Minimize praise of self.

b. Maximize dispraise of self.5) Agreement Maxima. Minimize disagreement between self and other.

b. Maximize agreement between self and other.6) Sympathy Maxima. Minimize antipathy between self and other.

b. Maximize sympathy between self and other.

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The six maxims explain asymmetries. Tact Maxim and Generosity Maxim go in pair, both ofwhich fall into cost-benefit scale; and Approbation Maxim and Modesty Maxim go in pair both ofwhich fall into praise-dispraise scale. The agreement Maxim deal with the scales of disagreement,and Sympathy Maxim deals with the scale of sympathy. However, the statuses of the six maximsare unequal. According to Leech, Tact Maxim is more powerful and important. That welldemonstrates that other is more important than self in politeness. Besides, the sub-maxims are less

powerful than the maxims, which demonstrate that the negative politeness is more important inpoliteness.

Application of Politeness Principle in Convivial Letters

The thesis will focus on how the six maxims can be used to explain the politeness strategies inconvivial business letters.

Application of Politeness Principle at lexical level.

Using You-Attitude Language. According to Tact Maxim in Leechs PP, the writer shouldmaximize the benefits to the readers to demonstrate that the writer has perceived the issue from thereaders stand. (Rodman, 2001) In this way, the readers needs are satisfied. When the speech act is

beneficial to readers, the more direct it is, the more polite it will be. Therefore, in collaborativebusiness letter and convivial business letters, it is preferred to use you-attitude language to obtain abetter response and to please readers.

Using positive words. Positive words are frequently found in business letters either conveyingthe negative information or positive information as the words can make the letters sound more

polite. (Wienbroer, 2000) Positive effects can maximize the benefits to the reader, minimize thecost to reader, minimize the disagreement between the reader and the writer, and maximize thesympathy. Therefore, using positive words observe the Leechs PP. Using positive words andexpressions is extremely significant in the conflictive letters which usually convey the unfavorablemessages. It is obvious that it is impolite to present the unfavorable message with the negativewords, like cant, deny, couldnt, refuse, fail, etc. For minimizing the cost to other andthe disagreement, it is better to use positive words to generate goodwill and avoid impoliteness.

I was very pleased to read the Fortune Magazine report entitled the Giants of Asia and findyou named among the top executives leading the best companies in Asias New Economy. (Sampleletter 1)

In the congratulation letter, a series of positive words are used to convey the good news. In theexample above, the positive words such as pleased, top executive and best are used. The useof positive words follows Leechs PP: first, it acts in accordance with the tact maxim as it

maximizing the benefits to the reader; second, it acts in accordance with the agreement maxim asthe positive words indicate that the writer confirms and recognizes the readers accomplishment;third, it acts in accordance with generosity maxim as the reader by using a series of positive wordsis obviously generous to give praises.

Application of Politeness Principle at sentence level

Using Active Voice. Voice is to suggest whether a subject of a sentence acts or whether thesubject is acted upon. Active voice indicating the subject as the doer puts the actor at the very outsetof the sentence so it makes sentence look more directly and forceful. On the contrary, the passivevoice with the object acted upon at the beginning of the sentence undermines the role of the subject.

Generally speaking, active voice is more frequently found in the collaborative and convivial letters,while passive voice is more frequently found in conflictive and competitive letters. Collaborativeand convivial letters usually convey the positive or neutral message, which is a benefit to thereaders. Therefore, the writers tend to express the meaning more directly and forcefully with the

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active voice sentence in which the actor is emphasized. Besides, with the active voice, the writerintends to show his or her consideration for the readers benefits and agreement as well as empathy.

Your skill in chairing the controversial panel on The Role of Developing Countries in theFuture Of Aviation Management was very much appreciated by those representing all sides of thatextremely sensitive topic. On both a professional and a personal level, I really appreciated the timethat the two of us were able to spend together for fun and reflection during conference down times.I certainly learned a lot about the unique aspects of aviation operations in your part of the world(not to mention the things you taught me about the backhand on the squash court!). (Sample Letter2)

This is an excerpt of an appreciation letter, in which the writer expresses his appreciation forwhat the reader has done in the conference. The first sentence uses passive voice, and the upcomingsentences use active voices. All the sentences are to convey the good news, and express the writersappreciation for the readers performance in the conference. However, the writer improperly dealswith the voice of the first sentence. By using the passive voice, the sentence does not directlyexpress the writers appreciation, which violates Leechs Tact Maxim of maximizing the cost to

others. The following sentences use the active voice, highly emphasizing the theme of appreciation.The suggested revision of the first sentence is:Those representing all sides of that extremely sensitive topic really appreciate your skill in

chairing the controversial panel on The Role of Developing Countries in the Future of AviationManagement.

Using simple sentences. Simple sentence refers to the sentence with simple structure and fewerwords, while complicated sentence is usually long with complicated structure such as modifiers anddependent clauses. It is usually easy to grab the major idea of a simple sentence in a quite short

period of time as the simple sentence is clear, explicit, empathic and direct. On the contrary, it isusually difficult to grab the meanings of the complicated sentence. Generally speaking, the simplesentences are usually used in the business letters presenting good news because the more direct the

expression is, the more likely that the benefits of the reader can be maximized. In this sense, use ofsimple sentence is in line with the Tact Maxim.

As discussed at that meeting, the objectives of our review sessions will be to:Review and assess the overall effectiveness of the program;Identify and document strengths weaknesses of the program;Propose customer-focused solutions to address areas of weakness;Develop an approach and action plan for Phase 2 of the project; (Sample Letter 3)

This is an excerpt of a notification letter of the further meanings. As the letter is a kind ofcollaborative letter with the focus on conveying the information, it is better to make sure that theinformation is clearly and explicitly conveyed. The more direct and explicit the letter is, the more

polite it is. In the example above, a series of simple sentences with the structure of S+V are used,

which clearly presents the objectives of the review sessions. In this way, the reader can accuratelyacquire the message. The use of simple sentence observes Agreement Maxim of maximize theagreement.

In addition to having taken a broad range of courses, I served as a computer consultant at thecolleges computer center where I helped train users to work with new systems. (Sample Letter 4)

The complicated sentence is included in an application letter. The sentence uses the adverbialclause within the main sentence to underplay what the writer has done in the colleges computercenter. This is a way of minimizing the praise to self, hence, it observes Modesty Maxim.

Your accomplishments as chairman of ONYX Corporationas well as the reputation you haveearned as an innovator, visionary, and role model for new generationsis quite remarkable.(Sample Letter 5)

In the congratulation letter, congratulating the readers titled as the Giants of Asia, the writeuses a quite complicated sentence. Within the body, there is an attribute sentence the reputationyou have earned as an innovator, visionary, and role model for new generations. It makes the

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expressions quite indirect. According to Leechs generosity maxim and tact maxim, the writershould maximize the benefits and praise to the reader when the information is positive. However,the writer uses such a long and complex sentence that the reader may find it to indirect to obtain thewriters goodwill. It is better to split the sentence into several simple sentences to make it polite.The revised edition would be:

You have accomplished a lot as the chairman of ONYX Corporation. Besides, you have earnedthe reputation y as an innovator, visionary, and role model for new generations. These are quiteremarkable.

Application of Politeness Principle at Discourse Level

How to organize an English business letter is critically important as it can affects the effectivenessof communication. Scollon and Scollon (1995) identify two approaches of structuring the businessletters, namely, deductive approach and inductive approach. Which approach to choose is closelylinked with the nature of message.

From Leechs point of view, when the request is beneficial to the reader only, the more direct itis, the more polite it is. Therefore, in writing business letters with good message or neutral message,it is better to use the deductive approach to structure the whole text so that that the letter can bemore direct, and ultimately achieve the goal of politeness. Deductive approach refers to a way oforganizing the text by presenting the major themes at the outset of the texts and presenting theminor information after the major idea. With deductive approach, the writer usually states the maintheme or major idea at the very beginning of the letter, and then the writer presents the details oroffers some background information, and at last the writer reiterates the major theme of the letter.Deductive approach is often employed when the writer believes that the reader will approve themain theme. In business letters with the good message or the neutral message, the reader is likely toaccept and agree with the delivered message as the message is beneficial to the reader or at least not

threatening to the reader. The deductive approach has its merits: first, it brings the reader directly tothe theme of the letter; second, it is likely to arouse the favorable response or reaction in the reader.By using deductive approach, the writer maximizes the benefits to other, thus, Tact Maxim isobserved.

In the business letters conveying the bad news such as the conflictive letters and competitiveletter, it is improper to use the deductive approach as presenting unfavorable messages at the very

beginning is likely to upset or irritate the reader. It is quite rude and impolite to do that. Therefore,inductive approach is often used in the letters with unfavorable message. Inductive approach refersto an approach conveying the message in an indirect way. According to Davison (1975),Indirectness seems to be associated most of the time with the bad news, unfavorable opinions, andintrusive questions. Indirectness enables one to distance oneself from the unfavorable message and

mitigates the intrusion and imposition. (Davison, 1975:153) Therefore, it is preferable to start theletter with some positive or neutral message and present the negative message in the latter part ofthe letter. With the inductive approach, a business letter is usually structured in this way: 1) a buffercoming first. A buffer refers to a device to minimizing the unpleasantness and shock. In the letterswith negative messages, the buffer refers to temporarily withhold the negative message to mitigatethe negative effect of the unfavorable message. The use of buffer minimizes the cost to other,maximizes the benefits to other and minimizes the antipathy. Therefore, it observes Tact Maxim,Generosity Maxi and Sympathy Maxim. 2) Reasons following the buffer. In the part, the writerfurther explains why the unfavorable message occurs with good reasons. 3) Presenting bad news.As the reader has understood the reasons, she or he may feel less threatened by the bad news.However, it is better to state the bad news in a polite and courteous way. 4) Suggesting alternatives

to maintain the business relations and mitigate the negative effect. 5) Ending the letter withgoodwill. With the inductive approach, the writer observes Leechs PP so that the negativeinfluence on the reader is mitigated to the maximum and that the politeness is achieved.

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In the later sections, the four types of business letters will be analyzed at the discourse level toreveal how the writer abides by Leechs PP to make the letter sound polite and courteous.

Sample Letter 6Dear Mr. Peterson:I am pleased to accept your offer of an appointment as a Physical Education Teacher in your

school system at an annual salary of $29,000. As you know, I will be teaching a course during thesummer term at Sims Valley Private School and will be available to begin my duties at South TownHigh School on August 26, 2010.

During my visit I was very impressed with your facilities and the teachers in your department.The opportunity to become an active member of your educating team is especially appealing. I lookforward to joining you and your staff.

Sincerely,XXThe letter is a kind of acceptance letter, giving a positive reply to the offer of appointment as a

Physical Education Teacher. Therefore, it is a kind of convivial letter. The letter also uses the

deductive approach, that is, the letter is organized in a direct manner. First, it directly goes to themain information, that is, the acceptance of the offer of an appointment, I am pleased to acceptyour offer of an appointment as a Physical Education Teacher in your school system at an annualsalary of $29,000. In this way, the writer is likely to draw the readers attention and interest in themain idea. Next, the writer continues presenting the detailed information such as the time of beingavailable and the impression of the school on the writer. In the end, forward-looking statement

brings the letter to an end, I look forward to joining you and your staff. The message conveyed inthe letter is the benefit to the reader as the appointment is likely to produce the pleasant feeling inthe reader. Therefore, it is polite to directly convey the message directly. By maximizing the

benefits to the reader, the writer abides by Tact Maxim.

Conclusion

The study on the politeness strategies in convivial letters can stimulate the readers to pay closeattention to how the politeness strategies are used under the guidance of politeness principle. Asdiscussed, the use of politeness strategies at different levels can promote the business transaction ina large sense. Therefore, business English writers should use the politeness strategies properly.Practically, the research can direct the writings of business letters, which may increases the chancesof success in communication. In addition, it can also promote the addressee's understanding of whythe addresser uses politeness strategies.

Acknowledgements

I would express my gratitude for my mother, my grandfather and all the ones I love and who loveme. Without their supports, I couldnt accomplish this paper. And I also thank for my father, whogave me a lot of love in the past twenty years.

References

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[2] Chiappini, F. Harris S. Requests and status in business correspondence. Journal of

Pragmatics,1996, (28):635-662

[3] Gibson, J. W. and Hodgets, R. M. Business Communication: Skills and Strategies. New York:

Harper & Row Publisher, Inc., 1990.

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[4] Grice, Paul. Logic and Conversation, in Peter Cole and Jerry Morgan. eds., Syntax and

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[8] Londo, Richard J. Common Sense in Business Writing. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co.,

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[10]Watts et al. Politeness in Language: Studies in Its History, Theory and Practice. New York:

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[11]Yule, George. Pragmatics. Shanghai: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, 2000.

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