An Empirical Research On The Characteristics Of Speech Acts In English Business Correspondence

Based on Speech Act Theory and Politeness theories,this thesis intends to explore the characteristics of speech acts in English business correspondence through SPSS.The major purpose of this study is to analyze and sump up the distribution and using tendency of different speech acts.The analysis findings are divided into two parts:(1)In the same type of correspondence,different speech acts have their own distribution and using tendency.The speech acts of assertives and expressives are more frequently used.Firstly,assertive speech acts are the most frequently used in the type of collaborative,competitive and conflictive correspondence;expressive speech acts occupy a certain proportion.The reason is that the three types of correspondence place much emphasis on transferring objective information and maintaining constructive business relations.Then,expressives are the predominately used speech acts,followed by the speech act of assertives in the convivial type,which is because the convivial correspondence pays more attention to convey sincere emotions with the primary purpose of maintaining and promoting business contacts.(2)Across different types of correspondence,the same kind of speech act has its own distribution and using tendency.Firstly,the speech act of assertives is more frequently used in the competitive type than assertives in the other three types of correspondence.This is probably because the competitive type is more concentrated on stating information.Then,expressives are the most frequently used speech act in the convivial type,for this type places much emphasis on building up sound business cooperation by creating an atmosphere of friendliness and sincerity.The study in this thesis has some theoretical and practical significance.And some enlightenment is expected to be provided by this study to business correspondence writing.