摘  要

随着中国经济的发展和综合国力的提高，我国的对外贸易和其他国家和地区的经济合作得到了极大的发展。商务信函作为最有效的沟通方法之一，其广泛应用于经济活动的各个领域。作者收集了商贸领域的部分信函作为参考依据，通过定性分析和定量分析相结合的方法，并根据商务信函的7C原则为理论基础，探索了商务信函的具体词汇特征，并且分析了产生这些特点的背景及原因。本文主要探讨的问题是商务信函具有什么特点和商务信函为什么具有这些特点。通过对先前学者提出的研究，着重就如下词汇特征展开讨论：商务信函选择使用正式词语，避免使用模糊词语；注重用词的准确性；广泛使用缩略词和专业术语；用礼貌客气词语和褒义词来代替贬义词。产生这些词汇特征的原因取决于商务活动的目的和商业伙伴的合作关系。通过对这些商务词句特征的分析和探讨，掌握商务信函的规律，以便更好地进行商务交流。

关键词：商务英语；信函；词汇特征；沟通

Abstract

With the development of China’s economy and comprehensive national strength, our foreign trade and economic cooperation with other countries and areas have greatly expanded. As one of the most effective ways of business communication, business correspondence is widely used in every field of economic activities. In this thesis, the author collects some business correspondences used in real commercial field and applies qualitative and quantitative methods to explore the specific lexical features on the basis of business English correspondence 7C’s writing principles. Make an analysis about the background and environment of the business English, and then conclude the following research questions：What are the lexical features of business English correspondence? Why does business English correspondence possess such lexical features? With reference to the studies proposed by former scholars, this paper attempts to discuss the following features: choice of formal words and accurate words, avoiding vague words; using abbreviations and technical terms; use of polite words instead of impolite words; preference of positive words to negative ones. These features are resulted from the objects of business communication and relationship of business partners. Both of the partners make cooperation with each other to achieve win-win object. Through the exploration and analysis of the lexicon used in business English correspondence, business learners and practitioners can have a good command of the writing principles of business letters, meanwhile, it gives convenience to business communication.

Key words: Business English; correspondence; lexical features; communication

1 Introduction
Language is a natural tool for human communication. Business largely depends on human communication, so the effective and efficient use of language in the business field has been taken as the essential skill for the success of business. With the development of China’s economy and comprehensive national strength, our foreign trade and economic cooperation with other countries and areas have greatly expanded after we enter into the WTO. At the same time production takes place in one area but consumption takes place everywhere all over the world, thus it has become impossible for a businessman to have direct conversation with his customers and suppliers. So there are many other methods of communication like fax, telex, telephone coming up in our daily life.