ON THE APPLICATION OF COOPERATIVE PRINCIPLE IN BUSINESS ENGLISH商务英语毕业论文.doc

ON THE APPLICATION OF COOPERATIVE PRINCIPLE IN BUSINESS ENGLISHby Class 1, Grade 2011(No.2011060441)Supervisor: Deng YingJune 2014Foreign Languages DepartmentHunan University of Finance and EconomicsContentsAbstracti摘 要iiIntroduction1Chapter 1Introduction to the Cooperative Principle21.1 Contents of Cooperative Principle21.2 The Relationship Between Cooperative Principle and Politeness Principle3Chapter2The Application of the Cooperative Principle in Business English52.1 The Application of the Maxim of Quality52.2 The Application of the Maxim of Quantity62.3 The Application of the Maxim of Relation72.4 The Application of the Maxim of Manner7Chapter 3Violation of the Cooperation Principle83.1 The Reason People Violate the Cooperation Principle83.2 The Applications of Violation of the Cooperation Principle in Business English9Chapter4Supplements and Development of Cooperative Principle114.1 Zhou liquans “Maxim of Attitude”114.2 Leach, G. Ns “Politeness Principle”11Conclusion13Bibliography14AbstractCooperative principle (CP) is the principle that people generally followed in communication. In international business, this principle has been deep understood. CP is the principle that United States language philosopher Grice first proposed. Grice believes that under normal circumstances, people will make efforts for cooperate when people talk. Therefore, in Business English, in order to achieve communicative success, people always consciously or unconsciously follow a basic principle, which is the CP. But in real life, due to some particular reasons, we often violate the principles of cooperation guidelines. This paper stresses the CP used in business English. The thesis combines business negotiations and business letter examples to show how to follow the principle of cooperation and analyzed the reasons people violate the cooperation principles. Finally, the development of CP in Business English is introduced.【Key words】Cooperative Principle; Business English; Violation; Politeness Principle摘 要合作原则是人们在交流中普遍遵循的原则。在国际商务中，人们对这一原则已经有了比较深刻的认识。合作原则是美国语言哲学家格赖斯首先提出的。格赖斯认为，在正常情况下，人们在交谈时会为了合作的成功而努力。因此在商务英语中，为了达到交际的成功，人们总是自觉或不自觉地遵循一个基本原则，这是合作的基本原则。但在现实生活中，由于特殊的原因，我们常常故意违反合作原则。本文着重讲了合作原则在商务中的运用。结合商务谈判和商务信函的实例来向大家展示如何遵循合作原则，以及人们为什么要违背合作原则。本文最后简单地介绍了合作原则在商务英语中的发展。【关键词】合作原则 商务英语 违反合作原则 礼貌原则ivIntroductionBusiness English is English Language especially related to international trade. Businessman hopes that they can use some Business Communication Skills to communicate with various business audiences. In this day and age, the Cooperative Principle has aroused peoples wide concern. HIP Grice is the first person who advanced the theory of the cooperative principle in Harvard University, 1967. Grice (1975) says, all of actions communication, in order of achieve the specific destination, there is a tacit agreement between the speaker and hearer, an agreement that both sides are expected to observe. It tries to explain how a speaker can mean more than what he says and how a hearer perceives what the speaker really means. Grice (1975) thinks there is a set of assumptions governing the conduct of conversation. This is what he calls the cooperative principle. Under normal circumstances, people will not talk in a confused and unclear way. This is because the conversation participants realize that we should use a common way that is acceptable to all directions. The sentences that is not suitable for the purpose or direction of the discourse has been removed, so that conversation can proceed smoothly. Thus, speakers are usually recommended to comply with a principle: "The Cooperative Principle". That is "according to the direction the conversation to provide decent discourse, when we participate in the conversation, make sure your view will be accepted by all" (Jin , 2005, p. 1).Chapter 1 Introduction to the Cooperative PrincipleThe key to analysis of examples such as business language is in the notion of implicature. In this task of the recovery of implicated information the hearer is guided by certain principles of conversation. 1.1 Contents of Cooperative PrincipleGrice (1975) called them jointly the Cooperative Principle and formulated it as follows: “Make your conversational contribution such as is required, at the stage at which it occurs, by the accepted purpose or direction of the talk exchange in which you are engaged” (p. 26). The Principle breaks down into particular maxims that summarize particular assumptions about conversation. Different pragmaticists propose different numbers of these maxims but as originally proposed by Grice, the Principle contained four sets of maxims. (K. M. Jaszczolt, 2004, p. 210) Maxim of Quality1Do not say what you believe to be false.2Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence.Maxim of Quantity1Make your contribution as informative as is required (for the current purposes of the exchange).2Do not make your contribution more informative than is required.Maxim of RelationBe relevant.With respect to this maxim, Grice writes, "Though the maxim itself is terse, how its formulation conceals a number of problems that exercise me a good deal: questions about what different kinds and focuses of relevance there may be, how these shift in the course of a talk exchange, how to allow for the fact that subjects of conversations are legitimately changed, and so on. I find treatment of such questions exceedingly difficult, and I hope to revert to them in later work."Maxim of Manner1 Avoid obscurity of expression.2 Avoid ambiguities.3Be brief (avoid unnecessary prolixity).4 Be orderly.Compliance with these four principles, people will be able to use the most direct and efficient, the most reasonable language for business communication. The first three are related to the content of business communication. The maxim of manner is on the expression of requests. It requires that the language in business letters should be concise and avoid circles.1.2 The Relationship Between Cooperative Principle and Politeness PrincipleAccording to Geoffrey Leech (1983) “there is a politeness principle with conversational maxims similar to those formulated by Paul Grice” (p. 78). He lists six maxims: tact, generosity, approbation, modesty, agreement, and sympathy. These maxims vary from culture to culture: what may be considered polite in one culture may be strange or downright rude in another. In the process of business communication, it is impossible to rigidly follow a particular principle. In fact, in many cases, people often will follow a principle at the expense of others, even inside the same principle of a breach or a few guidelines to follow other guidelines. In order to maintain politeness principle, people sometimes violate the Cooperative Principle trying not to damage the interests of both sides, maintaining good relations between the two sides. Politeness Principle emphasizes how to use communicative strategies to maintain or to promote interpersonal harmony during the business communication. Therefore, in order to achieve good results in business activities, people should follow not only the Cooperative Principle but also the Politeness Principle.Chapter 2The Application of the Cooperative Principle in Business EnglishBusiness English is a tool for international trade among different countries. The ultimate aim is to reach a commodity trading or service transactions. Therefore, both writing technique and negotiation skills need to follow certain principles. This chapter will talk about the various maxims used in business English.2.1 The Application of the Maxim of QualityIn business activities, to make the exchange smooth, it must first comply with the maxim of quality: try to make your words really credible. That is the most important principle of good faith in the business activities. This is not so much communication standards, as it is a man's request. In Business English, people are generally complied with the standards：A: When your company's product listed?B: I'm sorry, I'm not sure.If B did not know listing time of products, then his answer is to follow the maxim of quality, although not providing the information a needed, it is still the cooperative behavior. On the contrary, if he is aware of and deliberately did not tell the other side, his answer is cheating, contrary to the "Do not say what you believe to be false" requirement。Let us look at another example：A: Can you tell me the time and place of the interview ?B: May 20 at 2:00 pm, the Department of Human Resources office on the second floor.If the hearer B is very clear about time and place of the interview and his answer was convinced, then he is in line with the maxim of quality. Conversely, if he was unsure for his own words, then he violated the "Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence" requirement, contrary to the maxim of quality.According to the maxim of quality, the information provided must be true, look at the following example:The market investigation suggests that the United States has a steady demand for ceramics.Here, " The market investigation " is evidence，enhance the objectivity and credibility of the narrative. So, this sentence has complied with the maxim of quality. It should be said, the maxim of quality is the basis for the exchange to be carried out. Grice (1975) also pointed out that "only the maxim of quality is followed, other criteria in order to play their respective roles" (p. 45-46). So it has a special significance in the principles of cooperation.2.2 The Application of the Maxim of QuantityWhen conducting business communication, making too much business information, will cause interference and inconvenience. Too less information will not meet the expectations of communicators. Therefore, in order to achieve success in our business, we must provide the right amount of information and abide by the maxim of quantity. For example, "You inquired about my bamboo baskets on September 15, 1998. I sent you a company catalog at that time. I can send you a second catalog if you need."Obviously, this is a Counter-offer to the inquiry from clients. With the process of customers inquiry, grasping the information of the companys products is the customers most urgent demands.Sometimes, to meet the buyer's request, the seller made the appropriate response, and expressed willingness to further cooperate to provide sufficient amount of information. 2.3 The Application of the Maxim of Relation In the process of business activities, we require that communication parties must center around the topic, not rambling. We must strive to make your words relevance to the problem, which is to comply with the maxim of relation.The maxim of relation is that people must be respected in business English, for example:A: Tomorrow who went to the airport to pick Mr. Smith?B: Let Liu go! His apartment is near the airport.C: Let Li Hua go, Li had to stay in the United Kingdom, English is better.AB: Good idea.For the same topic, although the two people have different views, they have the same topic center. Around this topic center, B provided an answer that we think correct. Aiming at the topic center and Bs answer, C gave his advice and it is the most suitable choice. They are strictly complied with the relevant principles, thus making communication closely linked.2.4 The Application of the Maxim of MannerDifferent countries have different cultural backgrounds, so we should pay attention to expression during our business activities，avoid obscure, ambiguous expression.Most maxim of manner embodied in the writing business letters. For example, we will use "tons" of the weight of the unit when we make an offer, but "tons" have different concepts. Trade disputes will be led if we dont understand the word meaning correctly.The second is the currency symbol ambiguity. "$" is understood mostly in U.S. dollars, but it can also be understood as the Australian dollar, Canadian dollar, HK and so on. Exchange rate between currencies of different countries, will lead to different real commodity prices. Therefore, countries should clearly quote currency symbols, following the maxim of manner.Chapter 3Violation of the Cooperation PrincipleThe principle of cooperation is one of the general principles in communicative discourses, but Grice (1975) pointed out that in the actual business communication, we do not always strictly abide by the principle of cooperation, it means that we are often contrary to the principles of cooperation. For example, deliberately telling lies in violation of the maxim of quality, deliberately providing too much or too little information in violation of the maxim of quantity, deliberately giving someone the runaround in violation of the maxim of relation, deliberately talking ambiguously in violation of the maxim of manner. (Jin, 2005, p. 86) There are numerous examples like this."Obviously, in real life, who would not like to comply with the law or comply with traffic rules as to strictly comply with the above maxims?" (Chen, 1985, p. 3).So, violation of Cooperative Principle occurs, what follows? Its “implicative”. 3.1 The Reason People Violate the Cooperation PrincipleAs we all know, Cooperative Principle is the basic principle of human beings communication. However, it does not mean Cooperative Principle will be followed by everybody all the time. When Cooperative Principle is violated, usually, a special implicative arises. Conversation implicature means the additional, unstated meaning, that is, what a speaker can imply, suggest, or mean more than what is said, as is distinct from what the speaker literally says.Grice has already pointed out there are four cases of the violation: Firstly, secretly violation. Secondly, Flagrant violation. Thirdly, in order to maintain another principle, contrary to this principle. Finally, in order to convey the conversational implicature, contrary to this principle.In Business English, most people will encounter the third and fourth case. In business negotiations or business correspondence, people violate the principles of cooperation in order to safeguard the principles of politeness and self-protection principles. Therefore, in business activities, in order to ensure a successful transaction, we will consider more politeness principle and the principle of self-protection.People always take different pragmatic strategies to make the language more appropriate. In the processor communication, the both sides will comply with the principles of cooperation, or contrary to the principles of cooperation to maintain good relationship