politenessprincipleinEnglishbusinesscorrespondence

毕业论文〔设计)1.IntroductionEven though politeness is prevalent in our daily life,it is still hard to define in thelinguistic field.In fact,politeness is not only a way to convey information,but also animportant means to build and maintain social relationships in communication.Lakoff (1973:298)thinks that politeness is used for "reaffirming and strengtheningrelationships".According to her,"Politeness is a system of interpersonal relations designedto facilitate interaction by minimizing the potential for politeness and confrontation inherentin all human interchange."Leech(1983:250)defines politeness from the perspective side andproposes that it is used to create and maintain harmonious interactions.Brown and Levinson(1987:300)consider politeness as forms of behavior that allow communication to take placebetween potentially aggressive partners.All the above definitions contribute to explain theessence of politeness.Simply speaking,politeness is a set of patterns to show theconsideration for others and to achieve harmony in communication.Business correspondence,as a basic means of business communication,plays a vitalrole in economic activities.It is an effective way to exchange information build up andmaintain harmonious business relationships.Without business correspondence,businessactivities cannot go on smoothly.With the globalization of world economy,the popularity ofthe Internet,English business correspondence,including not only traditional letters but alsoemails and facsimiles,is widely used.This thesis is going to analyze the application and functions of politeness principle,mainly the Politeness Principle of Leech and the Face of Theory of Brown Levinson in2