The Phenomenon of Plain English in British Correspondence

Размещено на http://www.allbest.ru/

The Phenomenon of Plain English in British Correspondence

Yuliya Kyshenia

The article deals with the British correspondence as a peculiar phenomenon of the British culture. In this research correspondence has been studied as a kind of communication since most of speech communication rules are applied to correspondence and every single letter can be considered as a communicative act. While analysing new trends in letter writing rules we noticed the great impact of Plain English on the British correspondence. This phenomenon is becoming dominant in letter writing nevertheless we have failed to find detailed analyses on this aspect. Plain English helps overcome weak points of pragmatics of the letter writing, among them necessity to read between the lines,impersonal writing, addressee neglecting, boring style. Furthermore the main faults causing ineffective letter writing have been singled out. In accordance with the results gained we state that the most important thing which a writer has to learn is that a letter, to be really effective, should be written more or less as one would speak. This means to be clear and short, to the point. In addition we must remember that our communication through the correspondence is completely dependent on the reader that is why it is very important to consider the addressee thoroughly.

Key words: correspondence, Plain English, Standard English, communicative act, communicative effect, addressee.

Кишеня Юлія

Явище простої англійської (Plain English)у британській кореспонденції

У статті розглянуто англійську кореспонденцію з погляду прагмалінгвістики. Кореспонденцію досліджено як вид мов - леннєвої діяльності - письмової комунікації. Застосовано синхронічний підхід, акцентовано на великому значенні кореспонденції для британської культури, проаналізовано правила листування та зміни до них, що відбуваються на сучасному етапі розвитку літературної англійської мови, з урахуванням впливу усного мовлення на норми письмової мови. Серед головних завдань було проаналізувати листи як комунікативні акти, визначити їх особливості, виокремити види основних помилок під час написання листів, що впливають на зміну ролей, перлокутивний ефект і досягнення мети вислову. Далі було розглянуто явище PlainEnglish- проста англійська, описано його сутність, уперше докладно досліджено його застосування в англійській кореспонденції. Дослідивши явище PlainEnglish, дійшли висновків, що для отримання бажаного комунікативного ефекту потрібно враховувати адресата й відповідно до цього будувати весь мовленнєвий акт; у сучасній англійській кореспонденції простежується тенденція до спрощення, яку потрібно враховувати та застосовувати, при цьому не порушуючи регістр мовлення. У наступних дослідження плануємо вивчення впливу PlainEnglishна стиль, лексику та синтаксис англійської кореспонденції.

Ключові слова: кореспонденція, проста англійська, літературна англійська, мовленнєвий акт, комунікативний ефект, адресат.

Кишеня Юлия

Феномен простого английского(PlainEnglish)в британской корреспонденции english correspondence literary pragmalinguistics

В данной статье рассматривается английская корреспонденция в рамках прагмалингвистики. Корреспонденция изучается как вид речевой деятельности - письменной коммуникации. Использован синхронический подход, сделан акцент на значении корреспонденции для английской культуры, проанализированы правила написания писем и их изменения на современном этапе развития литературного английского языка с учетом влияния устной речи на нормы письменного языка, что обуславливает актуальность данного исследования. Среди главных заданий было проанализировать письма в качестве коммуникативных актов, определить особенности таких речевых актов, обозначить виды основных ошибок при написании писем, влияющие на мену ролей, пер- локутивный эффект и достижение цели высказывания. Далее было рассмотрено явление PlainEnglish- простой английский, описана его суть, впервые детально изучено его применение в английской корреспонденции. Основные выводы работы: для получения желаемого коммуникативного эффекта при создании письма совершенно необходимо учитывать адресата и в соответствии с этим строить весь речевой акт; в современной английской корреспонденции прослеживается тенденция к симплификации, которую необходимо учитывать и использовать. В дальнейших исследованиях планируется рассмотреть подробно влияние простого английского на стиль, лексику и синтаксис английской корреспонденции.

Ключевые слова: корреспонденция, простой английский, литературный английский, речевой акт, коммуникативный эффект, адресат.

Speketh so pleyne at this time, I yow preye That we may understonde what ye seye.

Jeffrey Chaucer

Statement of the scientific problem and its topicality

According to Freud's theory all our life is a game. Communication itself is a significant integral part of the life and the most obvious element of this game. Modern linguistics studies language communication as a human activity, special instrument and product of the existence of a nation.

Every language has definite standards which help us make communication easier and better. Most of speech communication rules are applied to correspondence and every single letter can be considered as a communicative act. Therefore in this article correspondence has been studied as a kind of communication. It has drawn our attention as a means affecting decisions, an instrument regulating relationships, a source of information, a ground for attitude and emotions, and a constant resource of connection.

Analysis of the problem investigations

Communicative approach to correspondence has been already highlighted in several dissertations of Russian scientists. A. Lazareva, I. Gerasimenko devoted their theses to the studies of business English correspondence in the light of pragmatics [1; 2].

At the modern stage of correspondence development there are many new trends in letter writing rules [3; 4; 10; 11; 13] and there are a lot of reference and guide books on these innovations [8; 9; 12; 15]. A phenomenon of Plain English is becoming dominant in correspondence [6; 7; 14], however, we failed to find detailed analyses on this aspect. Despite the existence of a great deal of references on correspondence and guides on letter writing, changes affected by Plain English have not been thoroughly considered and completely described.

The aim and the tasks of the article

It is very important for people involved in linguistics as well as in process of translation to know the rules of correspondence and how they change. Letter translation makes a translator involved into written communication. To succeed in such communication a person should comprehend strategies and tactics of correspondence. This research is aimed at study and description of Plain English as a means of successful communication through correspondence.

Statement of the article body and the obtained results grounding

Writing letters is very powerful. The power comes from its potential as an efficient and effective means of communication. A target of correspondence is to influence an interlocutor: person's decisions, actions, choice, feelings and emotions. Even such things, as person's will and success, are affected by letters. The process of letter writing can change your own point of view, your way of life.

Nowadays phenomenon of correspondence is so widespread that even babies, who do not know the alphabet try to write something intended to be a letter. And then old people write letters to say the last good - bye to their beloved and dearest friends. Thousands of people make use of pen friends clubs which can be found all over the world. In many cases, it is a way of making new friends from different countries and cultures. In most instances, the resulting friendships are innocent and genuine, and many pen friends, who may have been corresponding for years, do get chance to meet. Correspondence is a quite convenient way of communication at a distance.

Besides the fact that English is the world language of correspondence, writing letters, concerning all spheres of life, is exceptionally popular among Britons. They write letters as often as they make phone calls. Letters keep a unique atmosphere of British traditions, customs and order. Obviously, correspondence is a part not only of the English language but British culture.

Murtin Cutts states that some adult literacy surveys claim about seven million adults in the UK and about 70 million adults in the US cannot read and write competently [7, p. 3].

Most researches prove that letters are not always perfectly written. Pragmatics of the letter writing has its own weak points:

(1) it is hard for feelings to come across in a letter: we often have to read between the lines;

(2) writing can sound like a set of orders if the tone is wrong. It is authoritarian with no looks or smiles to soften it;

(3) writing can be very anonymous and impersonal;

(4) reading written documents can be so boring.

Especially drawbacks are obvious when writers do not pay essential attention to letters, they write and forget that writing is an art. It seems clear that every author should strive for:

- clear (ideas expressed carefully in a way that the reader can understood);

- concise (sufficient words used to import the message but not so many as to obscure the meaning);

- exact (vocabulary used correctly and the conventions for spelling, grammar and punctuation followed);

- appropriate (usage of the correct tone for the situation and the reader) letter writing, i. e. plain English. Moreover, here it seems worth mentioning some so called technical faults:

(1) Sometimes a person has to wait ages for an answer - sometimes never gets one. - This leads to the break of communication.

(2) Producing letters is time-consuming and expensive. - But only written conversation produces a permanent record. Sometimes a person has a trouble expressing an idea, it is better then to write it down; and the person and possibly the others will understand it. It may take a long time to explain something orally, but if it is explained firstly to oneself by writing down - the reader can study the logic not just once but repeatedly, and the information is efficiently conveyed. So planned ideas save our time, and time is money.

(3) Illegibility. - A great deal of the bad writing in the world comes simply from writing too quickly. However writers do not have any right to save time at readers expense.

As we have already mentioned correspondence is a kind of communication. Unfortunately, communi - cation breakdown happens more frequently than we may imagine. Though business letters should be informative and rules oriented, they are not always perfect. Most of business letters contain different sorts of mistakes. Most of letters include inappropriate, sometimes even funny points.

The authors of the book “English in Business” write that their problem was not finding examples for their book but selecting the right ones from hundreds [3, p. 22]. The authors have been interested in the problem: Why writing fails? They interviewed 150 people in all and asked them the following questions:

- Is the writing you read completely satisfactory?

- If not, what do you think the main faults are?

The respondents were divided into two groups Managers (50 people) and Employees (100 respectively). Some of them could not pinpoint the exact causes of unsatisfactory writing. But others distinguished the reasons. According to the opinion of the asked managers and employees we can single out the main faults causing ineffective letter writing. Here is the list of the faults where the opinion percentage of the managers (M) and the employees (E) is given in brackets:

Writing difficult to read (M 90 % / E 95 %)

Writer has not considered audience (M 96 % / E 92 %)

Aim/intention is not clear (M 80 % / E 86)

Wordy (M 92 % / E 80 %)

Style/layout/organisation boring (M 76 % / E 85 %)

Poor organisation (M 86 % / E 78 %)

Important points not clear (M 84 % / E 79 %)

There is too much jargon and complex vocabulary (M 40 % / E 95 %)

Constructions are clumsy and difficult to follow (M 60 % / E 80 %)

Poor presentation (M 76 % / E 69 %)

Poor grammar/spelling/punctuation (M 80 % / E 60 %)

Inappropriate tone (M 76 % / E 70 %)

Incorrect format (M 23 % / E 26 %)

The relative importance people give to each fault may reflect many things - different work settings, different level of responsibility and simply the ways different individuals handle communication tasks. Considering business letter writing we may notice that there is always the office where the manager insists on redrafting all letters to make them more formal and - at the other pole - the office where employees receive no guidance at all on correct formats.

Sometimes we have to write many letters concerning one subject but to different audiences. In such cases we should write different letters to each receiver depending on his/her position and interest in this particular subject. If make so then the writer and the reader will share real experience. For example, when we write a letter - report from a business trip and we write to the manager, an executive or colleague, and the family or a friend we would write three completely different reports. It would be formal informative letter to the boss, probably less formal or even semi-formal to the executive and could be less informative, and, at last, informal, personal, conversational letter to the family. Managers are interested in bare facts and details; some more additional information and fewer business points would be nice for the colleagues; a family or a friend would be glad to read any details both business and personal - all about the writer's life and experiences. In the last case, deep sharing creates deep relations.

- We should visualise our intended audience reading our letters:

- Is a letter clear to a reader?

- Is it positive and polite?

- Is the register appropriate?

- What do I want the reader to do when he/she has finished reading?

- Have all the relevant facts been included?

- Is it brief enough?

And so on... We should put ourselves on the addressee's place to estimate our letters and make them conversational. Our communication through the correspondence is completely dependent on the addressee that is why it is very important to consider the audience thoroughly.

Sometimes to write a letter seems a difficult task. However, the most important thing which a writer has to learn is that a letter, to be really effective, should be written more or less as one would speak [9, p. 86]. So we should not sit down, look at the paper and think: “Oh dear, what can I write?” but just begin writing the letter as if we were talking to the person. This means to be clear and short, to the point. In this way the letter will really come alive.

While searching for materials we have come across an interesting example by Lewis Carroll. He wrote, “years ago, I used to receive letters from a friend - and very interesting letters too - written in one of the most atrocious hands ever invented. It generally took me about a week to read one of his letters. I used to carry it about in my pocket, and take it out at leisure times, to puzzle over the riddles which composed it - holding it in different positions and at different distance till at last the meaning of some hopeless scrawl would flash upon me, when I at once wrote down the English under it; and, when several had been thus guessed, the context would help with the others, till at last the whole series of hieroglyphics was deciphered” [5].

At the modern stage of the English language development there is a tendency to Plain English. Undoubtedly, plain English is a woolly term. As no formula can genuinely measure the plainness of a document. It is not possible to define plain English but describe it. In Martin Cutt's opinion the term Plain English refers to: “the writing and setting out of essential information in a way that gives a co-operative, motivated person a good chance of understanding the document at first reading, and in the same sense that the writer meant it to be understood” [7, p. 3].

This means pitching the language at a level of sophistication that suits the readers and using appropriate structure and layout to help them navigate through the document. It does not mean always using s imple words at the expense of the most accurate words or writing whole letters in kindergarten language.

Plain has connotations of honesty, or should have. Essential information should not lie or tell halftruths, especially as its providers are often socially and financially dominant.

Plain English is not an absolute: what is plain to an audience of scientists or philosophers may be obscure to everyone else. And because of variations in usage across the English-speaking world, what is plain in Manchester may be obscure in Madras or Maine. Similarly what is plain today may be obscure a hundred years from now because patterns of usage, readers prior knowledge, and readers expectations will all alter over time.

If writing is so complicated, conservative and demanding, if effective writing obliges us to master plain English, why write a letter at all?

On the top of that there are times when writing appears to have been superseded by the telephone, tape recorder or video. While previous generations wrote letters to describe events, give information or convey feelings and ideas, today it is easy to pick up the telephone and speak to the other person directly or log in Skype and other similar software. However in many instances the letter is just as important today as it was twenty, thirty or even forty years ago [12, p. 11]. It seeks to organise, inform and make things happen and it is an extremely valuable means of communication. In addition, if properly prepared, a letter will give a favourable impression of the company (business letter) or the person (personal letter) it represents. This favourable impression could lead to a long and successful business association or friendship.

Nowadays English-speaking countries become more informal, many official bodies have promised to use plain language in their dealings with public including correspondence. Their motto is, “Be short, be simple, be human” [7].

The conclusions and the further studies outlook

The British culture is especially rich for letterwriting traditions and rules. During the centuries of the Standard English development correspondence has gained its own definite forms and structure which have been perfected all the time. However, nowadays we are observing great changes in the language, which are marked by trends to simplification, i. e. to Plain English. These trends become evident in letter writing. Due to the changes in this sphere and in the language on the whole most linguists consider written and spoken English not as completely different but just as having some clear distinctive features.

Complex relations between speech and writing prove the fact that a letter is a communicative act. Although correspondence is a kind of interactive communication it has its particular features which should be considered in the process of letter writing, and at the same time we should mind this trend to simplification - characteristic of the Modern English as an analytic language. We have studied the phenomenon of Plain English in this work and tried to apply the idea while writing. The volume of the article has restricted us to the description of some general points whereas lexical and syntactic characteristics of Plain English have been left to further consideration.

Sources and literature

1. Герасименко И. В. Социопрагматика американской деловой корреспонденции (диахронический аспект) : автореф. дис. ... канд. филол. наук : 10.02.04 / И. В. Герасименко. - Хабаровск, 2001. - 20 с.

2. Лазарева А. В. Коммуникативно-прагматические аспекты коммерческой корреспонденции как формы диалога : автореф. дис. ... канд. филол. наук : 10.02.04 / А. В. Лазерева. - М., 2003. - 17 с.

3. Ansell G. English in Business / G. Ansell, M. McMenemy. - London : Pen Breakthrough books, 1985. - 256 p.

4. Bauer L. Watching English Change / L. Bauer. - Harlow : Longman, 1994. - 200 p.

5. Carroll L. Eight or Nine Wise Words About Letter Writing [Electronic resource] / L. Carroll. - Oxford : Oxford Emberlin and Son, 1890. - Mode of access : http://grammar.about.com/od/advicefromthepros/a/ letterwritingdodgson. htm

6. Collinson D. Plain English / D. Collinson. - London : Open University Press, 1997. - 121 p.

7. Cutts M. Plain English / M. Cutts. - Oxford : Oxford University Press, 1999. - 165 p.

8. Earle R. Epistolary Selves: Letters and Letter Writers / R. Earle. - London : Ashgate, 1999. - 259 p.

9. Elliot A. G. General and Social Letter Writing / A. G. Elliot. - London : Right Way, 1993. - 128 p.

10. Gaskell P. Standard Written English / P. Gaskell. - Edinburgh : Edinburgh University Press, 1998. - 138 p.

11. Harris J. Introducing Writing / J. Harris. - London : Penguin English, 1993. - 138 p.

12. Hilton C. Getting to Grips with Writing / C. Hilton, M. Hyder. - London : Letts Educational Ltd, 2000. - 207 p.

13. Hughes R. English in Speech and Writing / R. Hughes. - London : Routledge, 1996. - 154 p.

14. Stephens M. Plain Language Legal Writing: Part III : Mastering Modern Legal Correspondence / M. Stephens. - London : ASAP Legal Publishing, 2009 [Electronic resource]. - Mode of access : http://www.cba.org/cba/ practicelink/cs/plainlanguage3 .aspx

15. Stockard O. The Write Approach / O. Stockard. - London : Academic Press, 1999. - 190 p.

Размещено на Allbest.ru