摘  要

随着改革开放及经济全球化的发展，中国与世界各国的交往越来越密切，尤其在商务贸易这一方面。有交往就会有争端，商业矛盾必然会发生。所以，商务索赔信在解决贸易争端方面发挥了重大作用。很多人认为为了避免误会，索赔信的语言必须是精确的，但是人们无法否认语言本身的属性—模糊性。因此，本文主要探讨商务英语索赔信中出现的模糊语言的现象。本文通过分析索赔信中出现的模糊语，结合合作原则和礼貌原则从语用学角度来探讨模糊语言的应用及其作用。通过该研究，商务人士能更好地了解模糊语言，掌握它的使用技巧和作用，从而把它应用到索赔信中来增加语言的准确性和灵活性，帮助写信者更加礼貌地表达自己的意图，希望本研究能增加模糊现象研究的丰富性。

关键词：商务英语索赔信；合作原则；礼貌原则

Abstract

With the development of reform and opening up as well as the globalization of economy, the associations between China and other countries in the world have become more and more closely, especially in business trade. When there are associations, there are disputes, too. So commercial conflicts will inevitably occur. As a consequence, English business letters of claim play an important role in solving trade disputes. Many people think that in order to avoid misunderstanding, the language in business letters of claims must be accurate. However, people cannot deny the property of language itself—vagueness. Therefore, this paper mainly studies the vague language phenomenon that happens in English business letters of claim. The paper will analyze the vague language which appears in English business letters of claim and by combining Cooperative Principle and Politeness Principle to discuss the application and function of vague language from the pragmatic perspective. Through this study, businessmen can have a better understanding of vague language. They can master the usage of vague language as well as its effects, and apply it to the letters of claim to increase language’s accuracy and flexibility. What’s more, it can help writers express their intention more politely. I hope this study can increase the richness of the vague language research.

Key words: English business letters of claim; Cooperative Principle; Politeness Principle