Analyzing the Function of Subjunctive Mood in Offers and Counter-offers from the Perspective of Move Structure_英语论文

摘要

近年来，许多研究已经从对描述语篇表层的词句、段落的语言学转向更深层次的关于实现交际功能的语篇结构的体裁分析。随着经济全球化的发展，国际贸易在不同国家和地区之间变得越来越频繁，这无疑促进了商务信函的使用。为了探讨发盘函和还盘函这两种常见的商务信函的交际目的，本文试图从Swales的语步结构理论角度来分析这两类信函中虚拟语气的使用及其作用。具体而言，本研究从有代表性的外贸函电类教材中收集了三十多个发盘函和还盘函的例子。分析表明，发盘函中含有三个语步，而还盘函则由四个语步构成。两类信函均有使用虚拟语气的情况，并利用虚拟语气来实现语篇的交际目的。本文希望通过研究总结出上述两种信函的语步结构和虚拟语气的使用，探讨他们两者对实现语篇中交际功能的作用，从而对买卖双方撰写发盘函和还盘函有所帮助。

关键词：语步结构  发盘函  还盘函  虚拟语气  交际目的 

Abstract

Over the past years, numerous studies have shifted from discourse description in terms of visual superficies such as words, phrases, sentences and paragraphs to deeper explanation of discourse structure concerning communicative functions. With the development of economic globalization, international trade becomes more and more frequent among different countries and regions, which definitely boosts the use of business correspondences. To discuss communicative goals of offers and counter-offers, two common types of business letters, this thesis attempts to analyze the subjunctive mood used in these letters from the perspective of Swales’ move-structure theory. Specifically, there are more than thirty sample letters collected from representative textbooks as languages materials. The analysis shows that offers consist of three moves while counter-offers four moves; and both types of letters utilize subjunctive mood to achieve communicative purposes of the discourse. It is hoped that this study will provide businessmen with implications when writing offers and counter-offers in a formal and polite way.

Key words: move structure  offer  counter-offer  subjunctive mood  communicative purpose

Contents

Chapter One  Introduction .1

1.1 Purpose of This Thesis 1

1.2 Significance of This Thesis .1

1.3 Research Method of This Thesis .2

1.4 Structure of This Thesis 4

Chapter Two  Literature Review5

2.1  Introduction.5

2.2  Approaches in Business Letters Analysis.5

2.3  Genre Analysis and Move Structure in Discourse Analysis .6

2.4  Comment 7

Chapter Three  Theoretical Framework .8

3.1  Introduction 8

3.2  Genre Analysis .8

3.3  Move Structure .9

3.4  The Subjunctive Mood .10

Chapter Four  Analysis on Offers and Counter-offers.12

4.1  Introduction 12

4.2  Move Structure of Offers .12

4.3  Subjunctive Mood in Offers .16

4.4  Move Structure of Counter-offers 18

4.5  Subjunctive Mood in Counter-offers 21

Chapter Five  Conclusion .25

Bibliography