Lexical Chunks And English Business Correspondence

Recently, extensive statistic analyses of real language materials have shown that 70 percent of natural utterances are completed by the semi-fixed "chunks" existing between words and fixed phrases (Altenberg, 1998). A variety of lexical chunks with fixed meanings account for 90 percent of daily language(Yang Yuchen,1999). Native speakers keep large numbers of chunks in their memories. Those prefabricated chunks comprise its main part in oral English, while only a few are "created" immediately (Nattinger and DeCarrico, 2000). Therefore, the role and status of lexical chunks in language acquisition and application have become an important topic in applied linguistics with the advance of Corpus Linguistics.Since China entered WTO, international economic, trade exchanges and cooperation have gown increasingly. As one of the means of communication in the business world, English business correspondence plays an indispensable role. Its quality, to a large extent, concerns about the success or failure of a business deal. Due to the important role of lexical chunks in language acquisition and the practical value of writing in English business correspondence, it is very important to identify the characteristics of the use of lexical chunks in English business correspondence.In the process of study, in order to ensure the representativeness and appropriateness of the lexical chunks, the author selects four types of English business letter of which twenty pieces English business letters are from some foreign trade company in daily use and twenty pieces English business letters are from students who major in International Trade. The four types of English correspondence are enquiry, making counter offer, shipment and complaint.In this paper, the author adopts Nattinger and DeCarrico's classification and definition. On the basis of Nattinger and DeCarrico's theory, this research studies the lexical chunks in English business correspondence. This study focuses on three questions: 1 .What are the characteristics and advantages of the use of lexical chunks in English business correspondence? 2. What are the differences in the use of the same structural category of lexical chunks between people in foreign trade company and students learning Business English? Are they significant?It is found in study that the frequency of lexical chunks of English business correspondence from foreign trade companies is very high. Of seven words, there is a lexical chunk. While in students'writing, of eleven words, there is a lexical chunk. However, in both the letters from foreign trade companies and the letters from students writing, the number of sentence builder is the biggest, followed by phrasal constraints, poly-words and institutionalized expressions. The significance of lexical chunks in business English correspondence can also be found in the study. The author also concludes the characteristics and advantages of lexical chunks in English business correspondence through study.On the basis of the above findings, the following suggestions are given: 1.English business lexis should be taught on the basis of lexical chunks and teachers should raise students' awareness of lexical chunks. 2. In the process of teaching English business correspondence, teachers should insure students to construct the letters with the lexical chunks and teach them the right registers to ensure the appropriateness of English business correspondence.3. Teachers should offer more exercises for students to practice lexical chunks and to improve their level of English business correspondence.However, this study is only a tentative experiment on the use of lexical chunks in English business correspondence. There are inevitably limitations in the analysis; some more efforts are needed to make further research in the future.