5。3 “Yes but”strategy 9

5。4 Exploratory questioning strategy 10

6。 Conclusion 11

Works Cited 12

1。 Introduction    论文网

     The politeness principle is one of the principles that we must respect in the process of business communication。 The social function of politeness is to keep the harmony and eliminate the conflict in cooperation。 The politeness principle is an important element of pragmatics。 The politeness principle originates from American linguistic philosopher Grice {1}。 In the 1967, Grice proposed the cooperative principle in verbal communication and this is a major breakthrough in the research field of pragmatics。 However people sometimes violate the cooperative principle in verbal communication intentionally。 In other words, people often don't have a direct way of words to express and always use an indirect method to pert in verbal communication。 In order to explain the linguistic phenomenon, the British linguist Leech Geoffrey put forward the politeness principle to fulfill the cooperative principle。

     Geoffrey Leech {2} thinks that in the course of the communication, speakers and hearers should show politeness as far as possible to each other and reinforce the expression of politeness。 At the same time, the negotiators should decrease the impolite expressions as far as possible。 In particular, the principle of politeness consists of six rules: tact maxim, generosity maxim, appreciation maxim, modesty maxim, agreement maxim and sympathy maxim。 All of these six maxims are used in business English when it comes to politeness。

2。 The application of politeness principles

The politeness principle consists of six rules: (1) Tact maxim: During the communication we should reduce the adverse information to others as far as possible。 To let other people feel comfortable, we should be in line with the common habits and psychology of them。 If we deny the others’ requirements and suggestions flatly, the other party may lose interest in continuing to negotiate which will cause the collapse of the bilateral trade relations。 Therefore, we often use appropriate words to soften the negative tone of others。 

For example: 1。 “It seems to me that we are giving up too much in this case。” In this sentence, “it seems that” expressed their dissatisfaction and suggested that the other side should make some concessions。 If not, the business is difficult to make。 Sometimes, appropriate language can make people accept suggestions more easily。文献综述

2。 “I am afraid I could not agree with you for such a big discount。 If so, it won’t leave me any profit。” This sentence presents that we can’t accept these conditions politely。 It will be too strong to continue further consultation if without adding to the “I am afraid”。

 (2) The generosity maxim: We should reduce the self-serving information as far as possible, and make others obtain favorable information from behavior and discourse information。 We should decrease the profit of our own side and increase the benefit of opposite side。 We use modest words to raise the others’ worth which reflects our own generosity and avoid the potential conflicts。 In the end, we can have a successful communication。