A Corpus-based Study On Modal Verbs In Business English Correspondence

With the drastic economic globalization,business English correspondence plays a significant role in the frequent communication between countries.As one of the widely accepted communicating ways of the vital media,it is used to seek business connection,establish business cooperation,and realize economic development.Modality,as an important tool to convey meaning and establish interpersonal relationship,has great significance to the research on business English correspondence.Based on modality system in Systemic-functional Grammar posed by Halliday,a corpus-based approach is adopted in this thesis,and 120 business English correspondences are selected and the Business English Correspondence Corpus(BECC)is established.With the help of UAM Corpus Tool 3.3h,the overall usage of modal verbs in business English correspondence is analyzed,and modality types,modality values and modality orientations are annotated and retrieved in BECC,and then an analysis of modal verbs from above three aspects is presented.Three questions will be probed in the study:(1)What is the overall usage of modal verbs in BECC?(2)What are the characteristics of modal verbs in BECC from the perspective of modality system?(3)How are the interpersonal functions achieved by modal verbs in business English correspondence?Major findings of this thesis are as follows.(1)There are various modal verbs used in business English correspondence,and among them,the amount of positive modal verbs is much more than negative modal verbs.As for usage of modal verbs,will is the most popular one,followed by would,can,should,shall and may;modal verbs like could,must,will not and cannot take up a relatively small proportion,and modal verbs like may not,should not,might,must not and shall not are rarely used in BECC.(2)Based on modality system,characteristics of modal verbs from three categories were analyzed: modality type,modality value and modality orientation.For modality type,two modality types involved in business English correspondence,modalization and modulation.Almost two-third modal verbs are in thedegree of modulation.Modalization is divided into probability(possibility,probability and certainty)and usuality,and all modal verbs with the feature of modalization are in the degree of probability,and no modal verbs are in the degree of usuality.Modulation is divided into obligation(permission,obligation and advice)and inclination(willingness,wish,determination and ability),and the frequencies of modal verbs in obligation and inclination are same.For modality value,median-value modal verbs are the most frequently used in business English correspondence to show writers' less certainty,and politeness and willingness to take responsibility.Low-value modal verbs rank the second place in BECC.These words can show writers' lowest certainty and unwillingness to take responsibility,and always show a very mild attitude and leave much room for other people to consulate.High-value modal verbs are the least used in business English correspondence,which can express high certainty and more responsibility,also can indicate the seriousness of events.For modality orientation,modal verbs in business English correspondence are used to express subjective implicit orientation,and will is the most widely used in business English correspondence to express subjective implicit orientation.(3)Use modal verbs in business English correspondence can achieve interpersonal functions: create friendly cooperation atmosphere,express one's opinions and attitude accurately and influence counterparties' opinions and action.In general,this study is beneficial to the study of modal verbs in business English correspondences.The correct use of modal verbs can enable the writer of business English correspondences to communicate effectively.This thesis is expected to provide appropriate and sound strategies to business English correspondence teaching and writing,and valuable reference to businessman in international trade.