On The Mode Of Business Contract Negotiation And Politeness Strategies

Business contract negotiation is essentially an economic activity through language. If it succeeds largely depends on the use of language, both parties must cooperate with each other and being competitive against each other. Any party will try its best to win the most benefits while maintaining cooperation with the other. Undoubtedly, this goal is to be achieved through the appropriate language. It is indispensable for one side to choose effective contract negotiating strategies and skill and language in gaining advantages over the other. Among those strategies, politeness strategy and its relevant language are of great importance in contract negotiating. By resorting to the politeness strategy and its language from the pragmatic angle, we can reveal the theoretical and realistic significance in the mode of business contract negotiation.The interrelation between the principles of business contract negotiation and its language necessitates the strategy of politeness language. As a negotiation expert called Cohen Herbert says, successful negotiation does not mean "winning by defeating the other party, but winning by getting what both parties want". Thus, an appropriate language is totally necessary in contract negotiation. Politeness language consistent with the politeness principle, which embodies the speaker's politeness to others, such as friendliness, esteem, saving others' face, etc. The politeness principle derives from the cooperative principle to some extent. The speaker deliberately act against some maxims of politeness principle to produce some illocutionary meanings. The politeness principle consists of tact maxim, generosity maxim, approbation maxim, modesty maxim, agreement maxim and sympathy maxim. Different ways of expression reflect different politeness scales. Pragmatists think that all the speech acts are somewhat face-threatening acts (FTA). To properly deal with FTA and save the interlocutors' positive and negative face, it is quite necessary to use politeness and its language strategy appropriately. The linguistic expressions of politeness mainly used in business contract negotiation skill, there are vagueness, euphemism, understatement, and compliments.To sum up, the strategy of politeness language plays an important role in business contract negotiation. The above-mentioned explication of politeness language strategy used in business contract negotiation proves that the strategy of politeness language can increase negotiators' mutual trust, negotiating consciousness and more chances to succeed in business contract negotiation. Therefore, the pragmatic strategy of politeness language can largely guide business contract negotiation theoretically and practically.