Abstract:

If we want to know or master a foreign language or a kind of style, being familiar with its language features is a necessary premise. With the development of the rapid economic globalization, business English has become an important branch of the English discipline. Business English letters have become an important way to communicate in the international trade and world commodity circulation. A good business letter can reflect enterprise's external image and internal strength, at the same time, is an important way to get a deal or to reach an agreement. As a kind of literary form with applicability, English business letter has its own language features and some common principles of pragmatics. This paper mainly aims to analyze the language features of business letters through some particular examples and the three aspects of business letter, i.e. form, text and content of the letter. Then some pragmatics principles are focused on, such as politeness principle and cooperation principle and so on, and how these principles are employed in business letters. And these principles will help us to have a comprehensive knowledge of English business letters and further help us to translate English business letters and write the letters with right form.

Keywords: English Business letter; Language Features; Pragmatic Principles

摘  要：

想要了解、熟悉并掌握一门语言或者一种文体，熟知它的语言特点是必要前提。随着经济全球化的飞速发展，商务英语逐渐成为英语这门语言学科中一门重要的分支。商务英文信函已经成为国际贸易和世界商品流通的一个重要的传达方式。一封优秀的商务信函可以体现出企业的外在形象以及内在实力，同时，也是一个公司获取一笔交易或者达成一份协议的重要手段。作为一种应用性非常强的文体，英文商务信函有着自身的语言特色和一些常用的语用原则。本文主要从信函的格式、行文、内容等三个方面，再通过一些信函实例来分析英文商务信函的语言特点。然后，探究了一些语用原则，如礼貌原则、合作原则以及这些原则在英文商务信函中的实际运用。通过了解这些原则可以使我们对英文商务信函有一个全面的了解，同时更有助于我们准确地翻译出英文商务信函的内容和撰写出一封格式正确的英文信函。

关键词：英文商务信函；语言特点；语用原则

1 Introduction
1.1 Business English and Business Letters
The definition of business English from the Wikipedia says that “Business English is the English language especially related to international trade. It is a part of English for specific purposes and can be considered as a specialism within English language learning and teaching.” For different people, business English has a different concept. For some people, business English fastens on vocabulary and topics used in the worlds of business, trade, finance, and international relations. For others it refers to the communication skills used in the workplace, and fastens on the language and skills needed for typical business communication such as presentations, negotiations meetings, small talk, and socializing, correspondence, report writing, and so on.