Abstract：With the rapid development of economic globalization, business English correspondence is widely used in all kinds of business activities. Bad news concerning refusal, counter-offer, complains, claims and adjustments will threaten the other person’s face. According to Brown and Levinson, this kind of correspondence is regarded as bad news business English correspondence. Therefore, it is of great significance to focus on bad new business English correspondence. Vague language, as a kind of flexible and uncertain language phenomenon, is applied in bad news business English correspondence which can not only keep friendly relations with each other, but also promote commercial trade smoothly and successfully. This thesis concentrates on the study of vague language in business English correspondence based on bad news. Besides, pragmatic functions of vague language in bad news business English correspondence, namely, making the language more polite, self-protecting, improving the persuasion of language and increasing the flexibility of language, are also discussed in this thesis. With this study, people can further understand and use vague language in bad news business English correspondence, getting better communicative results.

Keywords: business English correspondence  bad news  vague language  pragmatic functions

Contents

Abstract

中文摘要

Chapter One Introduction-1

1.1 The Background and Significance of the study-1

1.2 Vague Language and Its Types-1

1.3 Bad-News Business English Correspondence-2

Chapter Two Literature Review-3

2.1 Previous Studies on Vague Language at Home and Abroad-3

2.2 Previous Studies on Vague Language in Bad-News Business English Correspondence-4

Chapter Three Pragmatic Functions of Vague Language in Bad-news Business correspondences-6

3.1 Making the Language More Polite-6

3.2 Self-Protecting-7

3.3 Improving the Persuasion of Language Expression-8

3.4 Increasing the Flexibility-9

Chapter Four Conclusion-11

4.1 Major Findings-11

4.2 Limitations and Suggestions-11

References-12