A Brief Review on Linguistic Features of Business Correspondence

Abstract： Commercial correspondence is a vital section in the course of signing the sales contract. It plays an increasingly important role in foreign trade. In the letters， it needs some language skills to refine compact words to express clear position. Nevertheless， analyzing its language description systematically from the perspective of stylistics is relatively still a new field. This paper has used the modern stylistics to theoretically analyze the language description in English commercial correspondence from three aspects— glossary， syntax and context.

Keywords： language features， context of situation， commercial correspondence

1 Introduction

The exchange of information is essential in foreign trade， while the common form of information exchange is by business letters. In a sense， letters are main ways of modern communication. English， as a worldwide working language， has certainly become the main language of commercial correspondences. So， what the paper discusses is English commercial correspondence.In order to increase the authenticity of the analysis， this paper analyzes them from two particular viewpoints—language features and context.

2 Language Features

2.1 Word Bit

To enable the recipient to obtain information or take action， English business letters are always used in written language. To start with the word bit， we will discuss these following aspects with great emphasis.

Punctuation： Comma and full stop are two punctuations that people most commonly use. However， the usage of these two punctuations which is worth making a careful study in business letters is usually neglected. A variety of punctuation is used in style adverb to make it more attractive and unique. While in commercial correspondence， we customarily use comma and full stop. A comma is sometimes used to set off a clause in a sentence， but also as a borderline between transitional phrase and other parts of the sentence.

Uppercase， another important characteristic in the style of business letters is different from the capital letters in other style adverbs. In commercial correspondences， uppercase is used chiefly as an abbreviation of technical terms or fixed phrases. With the accelerated pace of the economy， more and more abbreviations represented by uppercase are applied in business letters to save our time and money.

2.2 Glossary

Affected by particular aims， topics and readers， the choice of vocabulary in commercial correspondences has the following typical style markers.

Simple， specialized and specific vocabulary： In view of the effect of aims， topics and readers on commercial correspondences， many traders have raised the standard of written English. And that’s the 7 “C”—completeness， conciseness， consideration， concreteness， clearness， courtesy and correctness. In these 7 “C”， conciseness， concreteness， clearness， courtesy and correctness require vocabulary to be accurate， which has a major impact on the formation of a unique style of commercial correspondences.

Loanword： Business letters always borrow a large amount of words from common words， and then give them new special meanings. This kind of specialized vocabulary has become the unique characteristics of commercial correspondences.

Dynamic verb： Being different from sativa verb， dynamic verb can give sentences life and enable readers to take note of the action that the verb expressed. So， in commercial correspondences， we should use intensive dynamic verbs as much as possible in order to persuade readers to take positive action.

2.3 Syntax

Narrative sentences and imperative sentences account for a considerable proportion in business letters. Aims of commercial correspondences are notification， persuasion and denial. Purposes of notification and denial determine the depiction of the facts—narrative sentences. It can express orders， advice and requirements and affect readers’ actions. Imperative sentences can be used for first person， third person， but also can be used for second person whose subjects can be omitted. Simple sentences—another occupation for an overwhelming majority in commercial correspondences. Business English writing require sentences be concise and accurate， so in commercial correspondences， sentences are usually simple and complete.

3 Context

Character of language users can be reflected from age， gender， social region， race and educational background. All these elements will have a direct effect on the style of the language. What’s more， the impact of age on commercial correspondences is not so significant. And the gender is mainly reflected on salutation. Social region or race background also has a certain impact on the style of commercial correspondences. There are mainly three purposes of business letters： notification， persuasion and denial. Notification is to let the reader know something， and to achieve their goals， writers always use narrative sentences. The purpose of persuasion is to persuade readers into taking positive action， so writers will use a large amount of imperative sentences that contain dynamic verbs. The purpose of denial is to convey a negative message. Such information often leaves the reader disappointed， and even annoys him.

4. Conclusion

The analysis of language features has indicated that commercial correspondences always use a mass of comma， full stop， uppercase， acronym， short sentences and paragraphs， loanword， dynamic verbs， numerals， narrative sentences， imperative sentences and collective sentence patterns. Then， we also combine context to analyze the root of the appearance of the language features. From this analysis， it’s easy to see that， from past to present， commercial correspondences have transited step by step from the very formal style to the informal style. But we believe that it won’t reach the extreme of informal form， because it is dictated by its unique context.