NGÔN NGỮ SỬ DỤNG TRONG THƯ PHẢN HỒI KINH DOANH TRÊN PHƯƠNG DIỆN HÀNH VI LỜI NÓI VÀ CÁC CHIẾN LƯỢC LỊCH SỰ

The principle objectives of this research are to figure out the types of speech acts and politeness strategies used as well as their frequency in business response letters. From that, the effects of the speech acts and politeness strategies in conveying the Writers’ messages are analyzed. The research method involved observation of document. 50 business response letters were collected base on three criteria which are form, language and length. The data analysis showed that there are four types of speech acts used in those letters which were representatives, directives, expressives and commissives. Among these types, representative speech act is used the most frequently. In additions, positive and negative politeness strategies are applied in all collected data. Between two types of strategies, the frequency of negative ones overwhemed. Although the research was conducted seriously and carefully, limitations were inevitable. Since the limitation of data sources, the researcher could not enlarge the scale. Due to the small number of samples, generalization was far from being achieved. Besides, the number of native and non-native English writers was not big enough to make any comparision between speech acts or politeness strategies used by two groups. Therefore, the researcher would like to call for further research on a larger scale and to consider the differences in two groups of writer.

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION

GRADUATION PAPER

language used in business response letters in terms of speech acts and politeness strategies

YEAR OF ENROLMENT : QH 2010

HANOI – 2014

§¹I HäC QUèC GIA Hµ NéI

TR¦êNG §¹I HäC NGO¹I NG÷

KHOA TIÕNG ANH S¦ PH¹M

KHÓA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP

NG¤N NG÷ Sö DôNG TRONG TH¦ PH¶N HåI KINH DOANH TR£N PH¦¥NG DIÖN HµNH VI LêI

NãI Vµ C¸C CHIÕN L¦îC LÞCH Sù

GI¸O VI£N H¦íNG DÉN : PGS.TS NGUYÔN XU¢N TH¥M

Hµ NéI – 2014

ACCEPTANCE PAGE

I hereby state that I: Nguyen Thi Minh Trang – QH2010.F.1.E.1 , being acandidate for the degree of Bachelor of Arts (TEFL) accept the requirements ofthe College relating to the retention and use of Bachelor’s Graduation Paperdeposited in the library

In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited inthe library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, inaccordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care,loan or reproduction of the paper

Signature

Date

The researcher wish to show the gratefulness to all people who have encouragedand assisted me during the time this study was conducted

First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to

Dr Nguyen Xuan Thom, my supervisor, for his great support His valuablesuggestions, insightful discussions and encouragements help me overcomedifficulties and confusion in the development and completion of this study

Second, I am thankful to my beloved family for being by my sides andencourage me Owing to their support and sympathy, I became more confident ofmyself and had the motivation to complete this research successfully

Last but not least, I wish to show my special thanks to my friends who havehelped me to collect data and to access literature documents Especially, I alsowould like to thank my close friend, Nguyen Tien Duc for his priceless support inthe process of gathering the data Without all their cooperation, this research cannever be completed

ii

The principle objectives of this research are to figure out the types of speechacts and politeness strategies used as well as their frequency in business responseletters From that, the effects of the speech acts and politeness strategies inconveying the Writers’ messages are analyzed

The research method involved observation of document 50 business responseletters were collected base on three criteria which are form, language and length.The data analysis showed that there are four types of speech acts used in thoseletters which were representatives, directives, expressives and commissives.Among these types, representative speech act is used the most frequently Inadditions, positive and negative politeness strategies are applied in all collecteddata Between two types of strategies, the frequency of negative ones overwhemed Although the research was conducted seriously and carefully, limitations wereinevitable Since the limitation of data sources, the researcher could not enlarge thescale Due to the small number of samples, generalization was far from beingachieved Besides, the number of native and non-native English writers was not bigenough to make any comparision between speech acts or politeness strategies used

by two groups Therefore, the researcher would like to call for further research on alarger scale and to consider the differences in two groups of writer

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACCEPTANCE PAGE i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES vi

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vii

PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Statement of research problem and rationale for the study 1

2 Aims and objectives of the study 2

3 Significance of the study 2

4 Scope of the study 2

PART 2: DEVELOPMENT 3

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 3

1 Speech act 3

1.1 The concept of speech act 3

1.2 Classification of speech act 5

Table 2.1: Types of speech acts base on structure (Yule, 1996, p.54) 8

2 Politeness 8

2.1 The concept of politeness 8

2.2 Politeness strategies 13

2.3 Tone 14

3 Business response letter 15

4 Related studies 15

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 17

1 Selection of subject 17

2 Data collection instruments 17

3 Data collection procedure 17

4 Data analysis method 18

CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 19

1.An analysis of business response letters in terms of speech acts 19

1.1 Realization of Speech acts used in business response letters 19

1.1.1 Representatives in business response letters 19

iv

1.1.2 Directives in business response letters 21

1.1.3 Expressives in business response letters 23

1.1.4 Commissives in business response letters 25

1.2 Overview of speech acts used in business response letters 26

2.An analysis of business response letters in terms of Politeness Strategies 28 2.1 Realization of Politeness strategies used in business response letters 28

2.2 Tone in business response letters 40

PART 3: CONCLUSION 43

1.Summary of the findings 43

2.Implication of the study 44

3.Limitations of the study 45

4.Recommendations for further studies 45

REFERENCES 46

APPENDICES 48

Appendix 1: Letter 1 48

Appendix 2: Letter 2 49

Appendix 3: Letter 5 50

Appendix 4: Letter 10 51

Appendix 5: Letter 12 52

Appendix 6: Letter 14 53

Appendix 7: Letter 18 54

Appendix 8: Letter 21 56

Appendix 9: Letter 25 57

Appendix 10: Letter 28 58

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES

Table 2.1: Types of speech acts base on structure … 8

Table 2.2: Leech’s Politeness scales 11

Table 3.1: Speech acts used in business response letters……….……… 26

Table 3.2: Positive strategies in business response letters………….…….……….30

Table 3.3: Negative strategies in business response letters………… ….………31

Table 3.4: Comparison of the occurrence of positive and negative politeness strategies in business response letters ……… ……… …33

Figure 2.1:The cooperative Principle………10

Figure 2.2: Leech’s Politeness Situations……….………11

Figure 2.3: Face Threatening Acts………12

Figure 2.4: Circumstances determining choice of strategies …13

Figure 2.5: Data collecting procedure ………… ………17

vi

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

FTAs : Face Threatening Acts

PART 1: INTRODUCTION

1 Statement of research problem and rationale for the study

It is clear that letters have been a crucial communication channel for humanbeing to exchange information since writing letter was invented Nowadays, withthe rapid development of technology, fax and email have gradually replacedhandwritten letters However, in whatever forms, language is the key to make asuccessful letter It reflects the language competence and the attitude of both thewriter and his company (Ashley, 2003)

Besides, business correspondence is considered the medium to connect sellersand buyers, business partners, creditors and debtors in case it is unable orinconvenient for them to have direct meetings In these kinds of correspondence,whether they are letters, faxes or emails, appropriate language used helps to expressthe aims of the writers in the most professional way This means, besides theinformation of introducing, promoting or concluding transactions, language inbusiness letters conveys the good will of the writer as well as his respect to thereaders It decides the success or failure of transaction in business community.Furthermore, English is widely used as an international language Thus, a largenumber of business correspondences have been written in English Among thoseletters, response letters account for a big proportion This type of letters plays animportant role in connecting the providers and the consumers If enquiries lettersserve the purpose of exploring the information related to goods or services, lettersfor responding do not only reply to the enquiries but also provide a wide range ofinformation about goods and services, prices, transport, etc in order to sell theproducts In many cases, the providers may suggest alternatives or refer thecustomers to another place if they no longer produce the products In all cases, thewriters are expected to be wise writers so that their words convey “crystal clear”(Forbes, 1981) and impressive messages to persuade the readers and also to createthe formality In other words, producing speech acts maintaining politeness andprotecting the face of both readers and writers are the crucial criteria of a responseletter In order to achieve these goals, the writers can use various politeness

1

strategies such as positive or negative strategies suggested by Brown and Levinson(1978), politeness rules by Lakoff (1973) or politeness principles by Leech (1983) Therefore, the aforementioned reasons leave a place for the researcher to carry out

a research paper entitled “Language used in business response letters in terms of

speech acts and politeness strategies”

2 Aims and objectives of the study

This study aims at figuring out the types of speech acts as well as the politenessstrategies used in letters for responding Then, the effects of those strategies onexpressing the listed speech acts are also analysed To be more particular, itanswers the two questions:

1 What are the types of speech acts used in studied response letters?

2 What are politeness strategies used in studied response letters?

3 Significance of the study

As this primary study is finished, it is believed to bring an overview of languageused in response letter in terms of speech acts and politeness strategies.Accordingly, people who are interested in the field, especially ones who have towrite letters for responding everyday can take this study an effective referencesource Furthermore, findings of the study are expected to contribute to relatedliterature as reliable content

4 Scope of the study

Within the framework of this paper, the research focuses on speech acts andpoliteness strategies used in 50 letters of replying to enquiries It also investigateshow often these speech acts and politeness strategies used as well as the impact ofthose on each other

PART 2: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter provides a review on related literature including the notion andclassification of speech acts and politeness strategies, tone in writing and businessresponse letter Also, it explains how the researcher fulfills some related studies

- Speech act

1 The concept of speech act

The term “speech act” is believed to be first mentioned by J.L Austin, a Britishphilosopher of languages in his series of lectures at Harvard University in 1955.Those lectures were edited and published posthumously by Oxford University Press

as a book entitled How to Do Things with Words (1962) Later on, one of his

fellows, J.S Searle developed his own ideas on the field based on Austin’s though.Searle’s arguments were discussed deeply in his work Speech Acts (1969).Generally speaking, both philosophers agreed that there existed other meanings oractions via utterances themselves

- Speech act as perceived by Austin

Through his lectures, Austin presented a way of analyzing meaning bydescribing the linguistic elements with the social situations to understand whatgenuine intention of the speaker was He argued that when people producedutterances, they often performed actions via those utterances For example, whensomeone says “It is hot in here”, he does not only describe the fact but he may wantothers to open the door or to turn on the fan

Austin paid much attention in “speech situation as a whole” (Austin, 1962,p.137) as it was believed an important factor correlated with the meaning of anutterance Also, by means of associated linguistic conventions, the speaker, with anassociated intention, actually performs an act to the hearer, which induces a certainresponse from the hearer Like in the above example, the hearer may open the door

to cool down the room

Austin divided speech acts into three types which were locutionary acts,

illocutionary acts and perlocutionary acts These types will be discussed further in

the next part

3

- Speech act as perceived by Searle

Like Austin, Searle believed the meaning could not be accounted without theexistence of the context of a speech act In Searle, sentences themselves do notexpress a proposition Instead, tokens or sentences in a context, expresspropositions However, Searle focused more on explaining the illocutionary force

In his work (Searle, 1969), Searle responded to Austin’s call for a general theory of

speech acts by providing three dimensions of an utterance which were rules,

proposition and meaning Searle goes further than Austin in providing not only the

needed general framework for a theory of speech acts but also a richer specification

of the detailed structures of speech acts themselves

First, Searle argued that language was a rule-governed activity by

distinguishing between regulative and constitutive rules.

- Regulative Rules: these regulate pre-existing activity whose existence is

independent of the rules For example, different cultures have theirs own rules ofpolite table behavior regulate eating, but eating itself exists independently of theserules

- Constitutive Rules: these constitute an activity the existence of which is

logically dependent on the rules Considering the signaling to turn left, this is a

product of those constitutive rules which bring it about that behaving inside movingvehicles in certain pre-determined ways and in certain pre-determined contexts

counts as signaling to turn left According to Searle (1969), speech acts are acts

characteristically performed by uttering expressions in accordance with certainconstitutive rules

Second, concerning proposition, Searle believed that the semantics of natural

language should revolve around propositions and force In a sentence, theproposition and the force indicator were under the grammar of the sentence Forcecould be indicated by word order, stress, intonation, punctuation, etc For example,the following utterances "Will John leave the room?" "John will leave the room.",

"John, leave the room!" and "Would that John left the room." would have the samepropositional content which is “John leaves the room” Yet, the order of words andthe tone of sayings may result in various meanings

Third, in Speech Acts (1969), Searle discussed Grice’s account of meaning He

accepted Grice’s idea on the intention of the speakers in an utterance but added the

matter of convention in that meaning Accordingly, a speaker, in performing an

illocutionary act, intends to produce a certain effect by means of getting the hearer

to recognize his intention to produce that effect Further, if the words are usedliterally, he intends this recognition to be achieved in virtue of the conventionalconnection between the sentence and that effect

In short, in Searle’s ideas, he discussed speech acts in three main aspects

including the rules governing speech acts the various meanings of a propositionregarding different elements such as words order and tones; and the relationshipbetween convention meaning and its effects Searle tended to analyze more detailedthan presenting general theory like Austin did

2 Classification of speech act

2.1 Austin’s classification

In the latter part of the William James Lectures, Austin introduced the concept

of illocutionary acts, and carefully distinguishes them from locutionary acts and

perlocutionary acts According to his classification (Austin, 1962, pp.94-95),

locutionary acts are the sayings of something which are meaningful andunderstandable by producing utterances with particular forms and determinatemeaning base on the rules of the given languages Locutionary acts include

phonetic acts, phatic acts, and rhetic acts Phonetic acts are acts of pronouncing

sounds, phatic acts are acts of uttering words or sentences in accordance with thephonological and syntactic rules of the language to which they belong, and rheticacts are acts of uttering a sentence with sense and more or less definite reference.Perlocutionary acts are, on the other hand, acts attributed to the effect of uttering a

sentence Austin said that in uttering a sentence the speaker performed an

illocutionary act of having a certain force, which is different from the locutionaryact of uttering the sentence, which is to have a meaning, and also from theperlocutionary act performed by uttering the sentence, which is to achieve certaineffects By these distinctions, Austin has shown that, unlike locutionary acts,illocutionary acts have a force Unlike perlocutionary acts, illocutionary acts are

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valid and complete without being reduced to the effect of it In other words, anillocutionary act is using a sentence to perform a function Austin classifiesillocutionary acts into five types.

- Verdictives: “are typified by the giving of a verdict, as the name implies, by

a jury, arbitrator, or umpire” (Austin, 1962, p 150) such as acquit, grade, estimate

or dignose

- Exercitives : which “are exercising of powers, rights, or influence” (Austin,

1962, p 150) such as appoint, order, advise, and warn

- Commissives: which commit the speaker to do something, but also include

declarations or announcements of intention such as promise, guarantee, bet andoppose (Austin, 1962, pp 150-151)

- Behabitives: “a miscellaneous group” concerned with attitudes and social

behavior such as apologies, criticizes, bless and challenge (Austin, 1962, p 151)

- Expositives: which clarify how utterances fit into ongoing discourse, or how

they are being used such as to argue, postulate, affirm or concede

Although it is often argued that Austin’s classification is not complete andthose coined categories are not mutually exclusive, Austin’s classification is bestseen as an attempt to give a general picture of illocutionary acts: what types ofillocutionary act one can generally perform in uttering a sentence One can exercisejudgment (Verdictive), exert influence or exercise power (Exercitive), assumeobligation or declare intention (Commissive), adopt attitude, or express feeling(Behabitive), and clarify reasons, argument, or communication (Expositive)

2.2 Searle’s ideas

The speech act theorists after Austin have focused more on explainingillocutionary acts in a narrow sense For instance, John Searle inherited Austin’sideas and elaborated on some of them in his paper (1969) Besides, he alsodeveloped the theory in his own style such as performing an illocutionary act isexpressing an illocutionary intention (Searle, 1979) Searle’s notion of the speechact theory was developed along this line Then, in their works, Searle (1983) andSearle and Vanderveken (1985) attempted to explain illocutionary force in a formalmodel which was compatible with the formal analysis of propositional contents

In A Taxonomy of Illocutionary Acts (1975), Searle analysed weaknesses ofAustin’s classification which were confusion between verbs and acts; not all theverbs are illocutionary verbs; overlapping among the categories and within onecategory; and unclear principles to classify speech acts.

Accordingly, Searle suggested an “alternative taxonomy” (p 354) including fivetypes of speech acts which are:

- Representatives: a speech act which describes states or events in the world,

such as an assertion, a claim, a report

Example 1: This is a German car.

- Directives: a speech act that has the function of getting the listener to do

something, such as a suggestion, a request, or a command

Example 2: Please, sit down.

- Commissives: a speech act that commits the speaker to doing something in

the future, such as a promise, or a threat

Example 3: If you don’t stop fighting, I’ll call the police.

- Expressives: a speech act in which the speaker expresses feeling and

attitudes about something, such as an apology, a complaint, to thank someone, tocongratulate someone

Example 4: The meal was delicious.

- Declarartives: a speech act which changes the state of affair in the world.

Example 5: I now pronounce you are man and wife.

Searle’s way of classification is clear and logic Each category has its ownprinciple and does not overlap each other

3 Direct and Indirect speech acts

In his book, Yule (1996) introduced a different approach to speech acts typesmade on the basis of structure He argued that in English there were three basicstructural forms going with three communicative functions (as shown in Table 1)

Table 2.1: Types of speech acts base on structure (Yule, 1996, p.54)

Structural forms Communicative functions Example

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Imperative Command/Request Wear a seat belt!

He pointed out that “whenever there is a direct relationship between a structure

and a function, we have a direct speech act” and we would have indirect speech

act when “there is an indirect relationship between a structure and a function” For

example, if a person says a statement “It is hot outside” in order to inform thelistener about the weather, this is a direct speech act However, if he says so torequest the listener to turn on the air conditional instead, it is an indirect speech Aspeople can use various ways to express their wants, indirect speech acts aregenerally associated with greater politeness in English than direct speech acts(Yule, 1996, p.56)

- Politeness

1 The concept of politeness

People may have different ways of defining the term “politeness” Some peoplefeel appropriate behaviors in certain circumstances mean politeness Some othervalue more on cultivated men or women (Richard, 2003) According to sometraditional researchers such as Lakoff (1973&1977), Brown and Levinson(1978&1987) and Leech (1983), politeness belongs to the linguistic pragmaticsarea and bases on some particular rules In some later research, researchers likeEelen (2001), Mills (2003) have analyzed more on the nature of politenessconcerning some affected factors besides linguistic devices or strategies Thosefactors can be situations, genders, etc

1.1 Lakoff’s theory

Lakoff is widely considered the first to discuss politeness matter She regarded

politeness as “a system of interpersonal relations” aiming at minimizing possible

misunderstanding leading to conflict or confrontation in communication (Lakoff,1973)

In her work (1977), she developed three rules of politeness The first is

formality which means “do not impose” and keeps appropriate distance from the

listeners The second is “hesitancy” or giving the audience his options and giving him chance to response “Equality” is the third rule in which the speaker considers

the listener equal to him and tries to make the listener feel good In Lakoff’s idea,

to avoid conflict, interactants need to be clear and polite while communicating

1.2 Leech’s theory

If Lakoff focused on pragmatic competence, Leech approached politeness in a

linguistic way He introduced semantic and general pragmatic in his own

explanation Accordingly, semantic is rule-governed or grammatical and generalpragmatic is principle control or rhetorical which was conceptualized as “thegeneral condition of the communicative use of language” (Leech, 1983, pp.5-10)

In addition to general pragmatics, Leech established two pragmatic systems whichwere pragmalinguistics and sociopragmatics Pragmalinguistics includes thespeakers’ intentions and illocutionary acts This system accounts for the morelinguistics application of politeness Alternatively, sociopragmatics refers to how

the speaker wants to be perceived socially It studied “the more specific local

condition in language use” Leech also introduced two rhetorics for conversation

including textual and interpersonal rhetoric Interpersonal rhetoric addresses

politeness and has three principles:

a The Politeness Principle: regards to the relationship between the speaker and

the audience While communicating, they need to build and remain the relationwithin a group This principle help to make sure that the participants contribute tothe conversation constructively and acceptably

b The Irony Principle: shows how the speaker can be perceived as being polite

whatever his original intention is

c The cooperative Principle ( i.e Grice’s Conversational Principle): This

principle concerns the attempt to maximize or minimize the cost and benefitelements of the interaction and is divided into seven maxims (Rosidi, 2011)

Consideration Maxim

Sympathy Maxim

The Agreement Maxim

Modesty Maxim

Minimize costs to speaker Maximize benefits to audience

Maximize benefits for others Minimize benefits for self

Minimize dispraise of audience Maximize praise/approval of audience

Minimize antipathy Maximize sympathy

Minimize disagreement Maximize agreement

Minimize praise of self Maximize dispraise of self

Minimize the hearer’s discomfort Maximize the hearer’s comfort

Figure 2.1: The cooperative Principle9

In order to determine how the maxims should be applied, Leech’s theory of politeness developed five scales:

Table 2.2: Leech’s Politeness scales

The Cost Benefit Scale Weighs the costs and benefits that an act will have on

the speaker and the audience

Optionality Scale Weighs how much choice the goals of the speaker

allow the audience

Indirectness Scale Weighs how hard the audience must work to

understand the speaker.

Authority Scale Weighs the right for the speaker to impose their ideas

onto the audience

Social Distance Scale weighs the degree of familiarity between the speaker

and audience

According to Leech (1983), different degrees of politeness will be created

depending on different situations The following are the four major ones

1.3 Brown and Levinson’s theory

Expanding upon Lakoff’s rules and adapting Goffman’s analyses (1967), Brownand Levinson (1978) developed a theory of politeness based on the notion of

“face” Accordingly, Negative Face (desire to express one’s ideas without

resistance) and Positive Face (desire to have one’s contributions approved of) are

two basic desires in the process of exchanging information In their work, Brownand Levinson (1987) emphasized politeness as strategies employed by a speaker to

Politeness

Situations

ConvivialCompetitive

Speech goal is indifferent to social goal

Negative Politeness: Minimize impoliteness

of impolite situation

Positive Politeness: Maximize politeness

obtain a variety of objectives such as promoting or maintaining harmoniousrelations According to their formulation, polite speech is the use of verbalstrategies that take the addressee’s feelings into account by showing respect for his

or her ‘face’ (Brown&Levinson, 1987, p.61) Compared to the presentation ofLakoff’s politeness rules, the approach of Brown and Levinson is close to afundamental notion of human being which is “face saving” This helps to explainthe desires of people in communication even across cultures

Brown and Levinson (1987) theorized that because of vulnerability, it is veryimportant to maintain face of both the speaker and the hearer during a conversation.Interlocutors must be able to “save face” when they are confronted with a “face-threatening act” (FTA), which threatens the faces of the addressees (Fraser, 1990)outlined the four potential face-threatening acts, proposed by Brown and Levinson,

as follows

2 Politeness strategies

Brown & Levinson (1987) held the view that nearly all speech acts were FTAs.Some threaten the hearer’s negative face by imposing on him Other FTAs threatenthe hearer’s positive face by indicating the speaker’s lack of concern for thehearer’s self-image Thus, in order to avoid FTAs or minimize the threat of theseacts, people use various ways which are called politeness strategies According tothe face-threatening degree of speech acts, speakers can choose to do or do not do

Face Threatening Acts (FTAs)

Threat to speaker’s POSITIVE face (apologizing,

accepting compliments and confessing)

)

Threat to speaker’s NEGATIVE face (accepting offer, accepting thanks, promising unwillingly))

Threat to audience’s POSITIVE face (complaining, criticizing, disagreeing, raising taboo topics))

the FTAs in which the risk of face lost will be increased or decreased as thefollowing figure (Brown&Levinson, 1987, p.60).

Figure2.4: Circumstances determining choice of strategies

From the figure, Brown and Levinson suggested that the more an actthreatened speaker’s or hearer’s face, the more the speaker would want to choose ahigh-numbered strategy Considering how a student acts if he wants to use a penand he sees a cup on pens on his teacher’s desk

There are five options for him to say:

Option 1: Applying Bald On-Record strategy with no effort to minimize threats

to the teachers' "face"

Say: " Ooh, I want to use one of those!"

Option 2: Applying Positive Politeness strategy In this situation he recognizes

that the teacher has a desire to be respected It also confirms that the relationship isfriendly and expresses group reciprocity

Say: " Is it O.K if I use one of those pens?"

Option 3: Applying Negative Politeness strategy, which is similar to the

Positive Politeness in that he notices that his teacher wants to be respected

however, he also assumes to be in a way imposing the teacher

1 without redressive action, baldly

with redressive action 2 positive politeness

3 negative politenessLesser

Greater

13

Say: " I'm sorry to bother you but, I just wanted to ask you if I could use one of those pens?"

Besides, some other examples would be to say, "I don't want to bother you but"

or "I was wondering if."

Option 4: He can apply Off-Record indirect strategies The student tries to

avoid directly imposing by asking for a pen Instead, he hopes that the teacherwould realize and offer him one

Indirectly say” " Hmm, I sure could use a blue pen right now."

Option 5: Don’t do the FTA.

If the risk of face lost is too high, the student may choose not to say anything

meaning of the message It can bring three benefits First, appropriate tone sets

suitable distance between the writer and the reader It is suggested that too casualtone may causes offense, especially in business transaction Yet, too formal tone

with teammates could appear unfriendly Second, the right tone can help create

positive influence to the reader’s attitude By this, the reader will have desired

response to the message Third, by using the right tone with carefully choosing

words, the message is conveyed more accurately which connects the interactants

In most business messages, the writers try to be confident, courteous, andsincere; that uses emphasis and subordination appropriately; that containsnondiscriminatory language; that stresses the "you" attitude; and that is written at

an appropriate level of difficulty" (Ober, 2009, p.88)

- Business response letter

The term “business letter” refers to all types of formal written communicationstarting with a salutation, ending with a signature and whose contents areprofessional in nature (Wickford, 2011) A business letter is usually used whenwriting from one company to another, or for correspondence between suchorganizations and their customers, clients and other external parties It is considered

“the principal means” (Nguyen, 2008) to help companies keep in touch with theircustomers

There are various types of business letters such as sales, orders, complaint,enquiries and replies Each of them has its own functions, among those, replies orresponse letters play an important role in maintaining and developing the business

of a firm If an inquiry indicates interest of potential customers in the company, theinquiry reply should be designed not only to increase that interest, but also toinspire the inquirer to action (Nguyen, 2008)

Therefore, the language used in response letters is essential to create the success

of them The writers need to take the correspondents’ feeling into account byexpressing politeness

- Related studies

There has been a number of research in the world conducted on speech acts andpoliteness, especially politeness strategies in business letters Among those, thereare some notable ones such as the followings

In 2000, Nickerson, in the work named “The use of politeness strategies in

business letter written by native speakers of English” investigated 82 business

letters written by British people to figure out the most common politenessstrategies However, she did not distinguish different types of business letters, sothe readers could not see the differences of strategies used

In 2010, Jansen took a closer look at positive politeness strategies in businessletters He figured out to what extent politeness strategies were perceived andevaluated as contributions to the quality of communication In this paper, the author

has discussed the effects of adding and combining positive politeness strategies to

15

letters denying claims to policy holders Yet, the research was carried out in a broadsense of business letters

Analyzing politeness strategies in competitive business letters, Fang (2012) helped the readers understand various strategies used in collected letters.

Nevertheless, he did not calculate the frequency use of those strategies to evaluatetheir effectiveness

In Vietnam, there is a limited number of research concerning this problem Anoutstanding study can be “Analysis language often used in Banking Business letters

in terms of structure and speech acts ” written by Master Ngo (1997) In this paper,

he looked at language used in banking business letters in general and focused onstructure and speech acts but not yet politeness strategies in particular Besides,there are also some theses concerning the way to convey messages in businesscorrespondence like Nguyen (2007) Yet, there has been no study on responseletters

The limitations of the above research leave a chance to the researcher to conductthis study to bring deeper and more detailed analyses on response letters in terms ofspeech acts and politeness strategies

correct form of a letter, formal language and appropriate length (at least 90 words).The letters were numbered from 1 to 50.

2 Data collection instruments

Document observation is chosen to be the instrument to collect data for thispaper As the data for this paper is from 50 letters, this instrument is the mostsuitable It is not only time-saving but also highly effective Documents are not toodifficult to collect from books and the Internet Besides, document observationrequires no “compromising anonymity” so the participants can be described indetailed (Joseph, 2006) As a result, it is easily to the researcher if she wants toenlarge the number of participants

3 Data collection procedure

The researcher followed three steps in collecting data as below:

Figure 2.5: Data collecting procedure

4 Data analysis method

The author uses two analysis methods which are content analysis and statisticalanalysis First, content analysis method is used in the process of reading thecollected letters and categorizing language used into different types of speech actsand politeness strategies Then, the author figures out the frequency distribution ofthese types by statistical analysis method applying the following formula:

Step 2:

Speech acts and politeness strategies used in those letters are classified

Step 3:

The effectiveness of politeness strategies and speech acts to serve the purposes of the letters is analyzed

Step 1:

50 letters for responding are

collected from the Internet and

the book “Oxford handbook of

CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

In this chapter, all the collected data is analyzed and discussed in details tofigure out the answers for the two research questions

1 An analysis of business response letters in terms of speech acts

The aim of this part is to answer the research question 1: “What are the types of

speech acts used in studied response letters?”

1.1 Realization of Speech acts used in business response letters

1.1.1 Representatives in business response letters

The priority of a response letter is to reply to the inquiry of the customer interms of products status, price and methods of payment As a result, representativesare employed in all collected response letters to report an action, to present theconditions or terms of the inquiry and to inform new information.

First, the writers use representatives to report their companies’ actions such asenclosing catalogues, price lists or samples For example,

- Example 1: The writer reports his company action by a representative

speech act: “A copy of our latest catalogue along with a range of samples of skins

used in the manufacture of shoes is being sent herewith.” (Letter 1 - See Appendix

1 for further evidence)

- Example 2: “The following prices are quoted per dozen CIF Hai Phong

Individual units are slightly higher.”( Letter 8)

Besides, representatives are used to describe the condition of the inquiry or theterms of payment as well as the discount rates like in the following letters

- Example 3: The manager describes the content of the enclosed catalogue

“You will see from the enclosed catalogue that the range has been extended to include some highly efficient portable extinguishers for use on construction sites.”

(Letter 2 - See Appendix 2)

- Example 4: “The machines can be dispatched within 3 months upon receipt

of your formal order”(Letter 11)

- Example 5: Payment method is described clearly “Payment will be made

in USD by irrevocable L/C to be opened through Northern Euro Commercial bank 15 days prior to the shipment valid for 45 days to the account of the bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam, Hanoi branch in our favor for 100% value of the goods to be shipped.”(Letter 18 – See Appendix 7)

- Example 6: The discount rate is stated “we are offering a special 10%

discount off and all net prices, with delivery within three weeks from receipt of order.” (Letter 25 – See Appendix 9)

Also, in some letters, the writes introduce some people who are going be adirectly assigned to take over the transaction with the customers For instance:

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- Example 7: In addition to the attachment, the company has arepresentative provide detail information Thus, the writer explains the role of

this person by “He has been authorized to discuss the terms and conditions for

placing orders and negotiating a contact with you.” (Letter 1 – See Appendix 1)

For many letters, representatives are used to report that the company hasreceived the inquiry from the customer like in letter 12

- Example 8: “We have received your letter of 30 th Nov for Vietnamese softwood” (Letter 12 – See Appendix 5)

- Example 9: “Your letter of 6 th May has been forwarded to us by Vietcomchamber for reply.” (Letter 16)

By using representatives, the writers have presented the needed informationclearly and precisely They do not need to use too many words but still get thegoal of describing, reporting the inquiry status or explaining the terms related tothe products as well as the role of related people

Moreover, representative speech acts also help the companies to advertisetheir products like in letter 21:

- Example 10: “Our bamboo products are more and more beautiful and

attractive thanks to the technical process which make them durable and artistic.

We therefore, believe that the offered goods will be favorably received by British customers and sell well there.”(See Appendix 8 for further evidence)

Thanks to this type of speech act, the writers do not only introduce theirproducts but also convince the readers to believe and to purchase the products

In some cases, some of the inquiries do not fit the capability of the supplier,

so they have to show their regrets For example,

- Example 11: “Unfortunately, we are fully booked during this period.” ( Letter 5

– See Appendix 3)

- In letter 12, it is easy to see this situation

Example 12: “We regret to inform you that we are not in a position to meet

your requirements for the time being” (See Appendix 5)

- Example 13: “We would like to inform you that the terms you requested

namely shopping baskets and fruit plates are out of stock” (Letter 21 – See

Appendix 8)

In short, representatives are the most frequently used speech acts in the 50collected response letters This is one of the effective ways to serve manyrequirements of the writers like reporting, describing, introducing or informinginformation

1.1.2 Directives in business response letters

Directives are the rated the second frequently used in collected businessresponse letters Most of the letters in general and in business response letters inparticular, the writer finishes his writing by a phrase “I/We look forward to” Thisphrase is not merely a goodbye sentence but more than that, it conveys the hope ofactions from the readers For instance, the suppliers can indirectly suggest thecustomers to do business with them or to order more products by writing

- Example 14: “We look forward to your increased order at this discount

rate.” (Letter 2 – See Appendix 2)

- Example 15: “We look forward to doing business with you.” (Letter 45)

- Example 16: “We look forward to your order which will have our best

attention.” With this sentence, the writer also expresses a promise of serving the

customer with the highest quality (Letter 10 – See Appendix 4 for more evidence).Apart from a fix phrase, many writers apply imperative to direct the customers

to purposive actions By imperative sentences, the requests or commands are statedclearly, which helps the reader understand easily

- In letter 7 and 23, the writer directly requests the reader read the information

in the attachment

Example 17: “please find the enclosed of our offer for bamboo salad bowl sets”

(Letter 7)

Example 18: “Please find the enclosed our prospectus covering courses from

July to December.” (Letter 23)

- In letter 22 and 26, the supplier begs the customer for future contact

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Example 19: “Please contact us if we can be of any further help to you.” (Letter 22)

Example 20: “If there is any further information you require, please contact

us.” (Letter 26)

- Example 21: “Please note especially the items on safety and fuel economy –

the main selling points of this product.” (Letter 32)

Not only serving the purpose of the writer, directives in the form of imperativesentences also creates positive effects to the readers as they immediately bear inmind the messages

Another direct way to have an action from the reader is to invite them like in thefollowing example,

Example 22: “We invite you to test the samples” (Letter 13) This sentence can

bring the customer an impression of being served passionately

Besides, various structures are employed as tools to get the customers to dosomething

- When the product is not available, a directives is used to call for other order

Example 23: “We do hope, however, that will be possible for us to make an

offer in the very near future.” (Letter 12 – See Appendix 5)

The indirect directives are usually employed to show the respective attitude ofthe suppliers when they have desires referring to customers’ actions Consideringthe following sentences,

- A polite request is posed

Example 24: “We would like to draw your special attention to our exclusive

quality “Gold Ring” which has been an outstanding success” The sentence leaves

a place to the reader to think and consider the product but do not force the reader toact The writer ingeniously introduces the product as well as suggests the customer

to purchase it (Letter 10 – See Appendix 4)

- Example 25: A reluctant request is posed politely “We shall, therefore, be

obliged if you will let us know the quantities, the times of shipment you require”

(Letter 16)

Generally, directives sentences are applied in both direct and indirect requestingstructures in business response letters The direct ones have a great effect ofsupplying information and call for customers’ order Meanwhile, the indirectstructures can create positive emotions to the readers and show the respect of thewriters

1.1.3 Expressives in business response letters

Response letters are considered a bridge connecting the customers and thesuppliers When receiving an inquiry, it is necessary for a company to show theirattitude towards that inquiry This will decide the success of business transactions

If the suppliers show that they are interested in the order and willing to providetheir products and services, the customers will feel to be welcome and eager tocontinue the business To complete its role, expressive speech act in businessresponse letter is indispensible

In most of the collected letters, the writers begin with a thank you sentencereferring to the customers’ inquiries For instance:

- Example 26: “Thank you for your letter of Friday, 22 November 2013

concerning the creation of a new image for the Yunan route.” (Letter 4)

- Example 27: “Thank you for your inquiry about the availability of a single

room for six nights from Monday, 30 December 2013 to Monday, 6 January 2014.”

(Letter 5 – See Appendix 3 for further evidence)

- Example 28: “Thank you for your enquiry of 28 June in which you

expressed an interest in relating a selection of our products in our shops in France.” ( Letter 17)

Besides using direct words “thank you”, many writers choose other motivatelanguage such as

- Example 29: “We certainly appreciate your interest in Maxine Sportswear.”

(Letter 9)

In those sentences, besides expressing thankful attitude, the writers make use ofexpressive speech act to remind the readers the inquiries’ information They dogood in assisting the readers in following the content of the letters

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In addition, expressive sentences play a significant role in showing thecompanies’ enthusiasm in serving the customers Considering these examples:

- Example 30: “We have much pleasure in sending you herewith a fairly full

collection of our latest and best selling designs and hope some of them will interest you.” (Letter 10 – See Appendix 4)

- Example 31: “we hope very much that we can reach agreement on the terms

- Example 34: “We thank you for your inquiry, but regret that at present we

are not in a position to offer tea for immediate shipment” ( Letter 16)

- Example 35: “We are sorry because the booklets cannot be in Indonesian.” (

- Example 37: “Thank you for your interest.” ( Letter 24 and 27)

- Example 38: “once again thank you for your letter/ inquiry”

(Letter 25 and 34 – See Appendix 9 for more evidence)

To conclude, the main role of expressive speech act in business response letters

is to thank the customers for their inquiries Besides, it helps to transmit theemotion of the writers like interests, enthusiasm or regret

1.1.4 Commissives in business response letters

Expressing commitments in terms of providing high quality products andservices along with appropriate contract terms are also the purpose of businessresponse letters Thus, commissives are applied in lots of the letters