Lexico-semantic characteristics of business letter correspondence, Детальна інформація

Lexico-semantic characteristics of business letter correspondence

Курсовая работа

Сдала студентка гр. РП -41 Юрченко М. В.

ANNOTATION

The subject matter of the course paper is the role of lexics and semantics in the case of business letter correspondence. The question of the history of official communication, the main stages of business transactions, the role of person’s feeling for the proper use of phrases as well as his knowledge of grammar are highlighted. Moreover, those phrases which are more often used in business letters are examined from the point of view of their appropriateness in different situations. The practical part contains several examples of business letters; the occasions on which they were written and some of their characteristics are observed.

INTRODUCTION

Letter writing - is an essential part of communication,  an intimate part   of   experience.   Each  letter-writer  has  a characteristic way of writing,  his style of writing,  his way of expressing  thoughts,  facts,  etc.  but  it  must  be emphasised that the routine of the official  or  semi-official business letters  requires  certain  accepted idioms,  phrases, patterns, and grammar which are found  in  general  use  today. Therefore certain  skills  must  be acquired by practice,  and details of writing must be carefully and thoroughly learnt.

A cheque,  a contract or any other business paper sent by mail should always be accompanied by a letter. The letter says what is  being  sent  so that the recipient should know exactly what you intended to send.  It is a typical business  letter  which some people  call "routine".  The letter may be short or long, it may contain some very important  and  much  less  important information -  every  letter  requires  careful  planning  and thoughtful writing.

In recent  years  English has become a universal business language. As such,  it is potentially an instrument  of  order and clarity.  But  words  and phrases have unexpected ways of creating binding commitments.

Letter-writing, certainly,  is  not  the  same as casual conversation, it  bears  only  the  same  power  of  thoughts, reflections, and observations as in conversational talk,  but the form may be quite different.  What  makes  the  letter  so attractive and  pleasing  is  not  always  the  massage of  the letter, it is often the manner and style in which  the  massage is written.

E.g.: "I wish to express to you my  sincere  appreciation for your note of congratulation."

or

 "I am  sincerely happy that you were elected President of Biological Society."

As you  see  such  formulations  show the attitude of the writer, his respect and sincerity.

The language of business,  professional and semi-official letters is formal,  courteous,  tactful, concise, expressive, and to the point. A neatly arranged letter will certainly make a better impression on the reader, thus good letters make good business partners.

In the case of "scientific correspondence" the majority of letters bear   mostly  a  semi-official  character  and  are concerned with different situations associated with scientific activities concentrated  around the organisation of scientific meetings (congresses,   symposia,   workshops,   etc.),    the arrangement of visit, invitation, publication, the exchange of scientific literature,  information, etc. Letters of this kind have a   tone  of  friendliness,  naturalism.  Modern  English letters should not be exaggerated,  overburdened, outmoded with time-worn expressions.  The  key  note  is simplicity.  Modern letters tend towards using the language of conversational style.

Writing is   not   only  a  means  of  communication  and contract, but also a record of affairs,  information,  events, etc. So  it  is  necessary to feel the spirit and trend of the style in order to write a perfect letter.

Business-letter or  contract  law is a complex and vastly documented subject,  only a lawyer  can  deal  with  it  on  a serious level.  A number of basic principles,  however, can be outlined sufficiently to mark of encounters that  require  the use of specialised English.

Doing business means  working  out  agreements with  other people, sometimes through  elaborate  contracts  and sometimes through nothing but little   standard    forms, through exchanges of letters and conversations at lunch.

Nowadays more and more agreements are  made  in  English, for English  is  the  nearest  thing  we  have  to a universal business language.  Joint ventures,  bank loans, and trademark licenses frequently  are  spelled  out  in  this language even  though it is not native to at least  one  of  the  contracting parties.

As a beginning I am going  to  look  at  the  subject  of writing of business  letters  generally.  In  the  main there are three stages transactions involving business contracts: first, negotiation of  terms,  second,  drafting documents reflecting these terms,  and third,  litigation to enforce  or  to  avoid executing of these terms. To my mind, a fourth might be added, the administration of contracts.

I am  going to look through the first two since the third and the fourth are related only to the field of law. A typical first stage of contract is two or more people having drink and talking about future dealing.  A second phase might be letters written in order to work out an agreement.

In these two early stages it  will  be  helpful  to  know something about rules of contract.  But what rules?  Different nations borrow or create different legal systems, and even within a single country the rules may vary according to region or the kind of transaction involved.

It is worth knowing that the distinctions in legal system of England are mainly historical.

The history  of  writing  business letters is undoubtedly connected with the history of development of  legal  language. English is in fact a latecomer as a legal language.  Even after the Norman  Conquest  court  pleadings  in  England  were  in French, and before that lawyers used Latin.  Perhaps,  some of our difficulties arise  due  to  the  fact  that  English  was unacceptable in its childhood.

Contract in  English  suggest   Anglo-American   contract rules. The  main  point  is always to be aware that there are differences: the way they may be  resolved usually  is  a problem for lawyers.  With contracts the applicable law may be the law of the place where the contract is made; in other cases it may be the law of the place where the contract is to be performed. It is specified in preliminary negotiations  which  system  of law is to apply.

Diversity is characteristic feature of English; here is a wide range of alternatives to  choose  from  in saying things,  although the conciseness is sometimes lacking.  Consequently,  the  use  of  English is  a  creative  challenge. Almost  too many riches are available for   selection,   that   leads   occasionally    to masterpieces but more frequently to mistakes.  English is less refined in its distinctions than French,  for example, and this makes it harder to be clear.

That does not mean that English is  imprecise  for  all things are relative.  If we compare English with Japanese,  we will see  that  the  latter  possesses  enormous   degree   of politeness to   reflect  the  respectiveness  of  speaker  and listener as well as of addresser and addressee.

Here I  cannot help mentioning the fact that as contracts are so unclear in what every side intends to  do,  a  contract can sometimes put a company out of business.

Thus everybody who is involved in any  kind  of  business should study   thoroughly   the  complex  science  of  writing business letters and contracts.