Abstract
Based on a corpus of 296 authentic business emails produced in computer-mediated business communication from 7 Chinese international trade enterprises, this paper addresses the language strategy applied in CMC (Computer-mediated Communication) by examining the use of hedges. With the emergence of internet, a wider range of hedges are applied extensively in four types of business emails: marketing email, inquiry email, quotation email, follow-up email. Marketing emails have the most hedges while follow-up emails, quotation emails have the least, and inquiry emails in between. As plausible shields, modal verbs are massively adopted in four types of business emails to show politeness and eagerness for business partnership. Marketing emails employ adaptors and rounders to soften the exaggerated expressions in the introduction to the company and its products so as to make a convincing promotion. Both inquiry emails and quotation emails use adaptors and rounders very often when figures concerning products and prices are deliberately offered in a modest way for further negotiation. Follow-up emails use rounders, adaptors and attribute shield extensively in negotiating and reaching agreement. The three types of hedges help both parties to reduce risk and defend themselves against claims with tactic language strategy. The use of hedges in business emails demonstrates the flexibility of business communication with the help of IT technology. The rules of accurate expressions in business letters are no longer strictly observed in computer-mediated communication. The breakthrough of extensive hedge using in business emails showcases a change in business communication manners mediated by IT technology.
Highlights
Electronic Commerce has been widely conducted by international trade companies in the global market these years (Chen, 2007)
Vol 4, No 6; 2014 trade companies located in Guangdong province, this paper examines the usage of hedges and their distribution in different types of business emails so as to attach greater importance to the study of lexis and phrases employed in computer-mediated business communication
In contrast with the rare of hedges used in traditional business correspondence, hedges are prominently used in various business emails, with marketing emails ranking the first, inquiry email the second, quotation email and follow-up email the last
Summary
Electronic Commerce has been widely conducted by international trade companies in the global market these years (Chen, 2007). This research is a further investigation on the hedges used in different types of business emails in response to the author’s previous article entitled “On the Trend of Employing Vagueness Rhetoric in E-commerce Discourse-A Case Study of the Use of Hedges in Business Emails” which conducted a contrastive study between traditional business correspondence and business emails based on statistic computing of hedges. Both of them look into lexical and syntax features of business English from the micro level. Vol 4, No 6; 2014 trade companies located in Guangdong province, this paper examines the usage of hedges and their distribution in different types of business emails so as to attach greater importance to the study of lexis and phrases employed in computer-mediated business communication
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