-1- Part A Introduction I Rationale of the study To use a language properly, we not only have to know the grammatical structures of the language and their meanings but also have to know what forms of language are appropriate for given situations The English language, in practice, has quite many varieties, each of which belongs to a particular geographical area or to a particular kind of situation The English used in the United States, in some way, is different from that used in Great Britain, the English used in formal written style is somehow different from that used in informal situations Due to the cultural nature of English, one must take many factors into consideration when communicating with his or her counterparts For instance, the way we talk to our intimate friends is quite different from the way we to our superiors or someone we not know well Failing to use language appropriately in different situations may lead to comunication breakdowns In order for the performance of a discourse to be realized as intended, it must be said or written “ by the right person, in the right place, at the right time, in the right manner” ( Jackson & Stockwell, cited in Tran Ba Tien, 2004:15) In everyday life, correspondence plays a very important role in establishing and maintaining good relationships, and getting things done However, correspondence does not follow the same conventions but varies considerably depending on the role and relationship between the participants The style of formal letters would not be the same as the informal ones It is, therefore, necessary for English users to have good understanding of this distinction so that their communicative intention will be realized as they expect All these factors are the driving force that inspires me to investigate this area II Aims of the study *To distinguish the differences between informal and formal correspondence *To help learners understand more about kinds of correspondence *To use English in appropriate ways to write correspondence *To try to offer some suggestions and some possible types of exercises to improve the leaming of writing correspondence -2- III Methods of the study * Statistic method * Contrastive and comparative method * Analysis and systematic method  Obtaining advice from experts IV Scope of the study  Due to the time limitation, we only focus on English formal and informal correspondence V Design of the study Part A INTRODUCTION Rationale of for choosing the subject Aims of the study Methods of the study Scope of the study Design of the study Part B DEVELOPMENT Chapter I: The theoretical background Chapter II : English correspondence and its properties Chapter III : Some suggestion for implication Part C CONCLUSION References -3- Part B DEVELOPMENT Chapter I: Theoretical background Discourse Traditional linguistics have focused on phonological, lexical and syntactical features which are considered the basis of language knowledge Meanwhile, the current view is concerned with understanding of stretches of language which can only be obtained if they are considered “in their full textual, social and psychological context” (Cook -1990) Although different theorists have their own definition of discourse, it is generally refered to as “the language in use for communication” 1.1 Discourse and text A distinction should be made between Discourse and Text Crystal (1992: 72) distinguishes that “text” should be reserved only for writing and “discourse” for speech According to Cook (1989 : 158), “text” is a stretch of language interpreted formally without context whereas “discourse” is “stretches of language peceived to be meaningful, unified and purposive” (ibidi) Halliday and Hasan (1976 : 1), however, use these two notions interchangeably They use “text” to actually refer to “discourse” for they say “a text is unit of language in use” and “it may be spoken or written, prose or verse, dialogue or monologue” Brown and Yule (1983 : 6) point out that texts are the presentation of discourse and verbal record of a communicative act 1.2 Spoken and written discourse Both spoken and written discourses are different modes of expressing linguistic meaning Besides their similarities in some aspects, they still have some differences Spoken discourse is often considered to be less planned or orderly, more open to intervention by the receiver while written one is well- structured and the possibilities for subordinate are very limited The traditional distinction is based on the difference on production and reception We use our mouths and ears for spoken discourse and our hands and eyes for witten one -4Brown and Yule (1983:13 ) point out that spoken and written discourse serve various functions The first is used for the establishment and maintenance of human relationships (interactional use) and the second for the working out of and transference of information (transactional use ) To sum up, the main difterence between them is seen from the fact that spoken discourse is changeable and written is permanent 1.3 Discourse context 1.3.1 The context of situation Context of situation or context, in D.A, is an essential factor for interpreting the discourse “A context can support a range of meaning” (Hymes, quoted in Brown and Yule,1983) David Nunan (1983;7) states that “context refers to situation giving rise to the discourse and within which the discourse is embedded” According to him, context should be divided into two types : linguistic and non- linguistic The former surrounds on accompanies the piece of discourse under analysis The latter includes the type of communicative event, the topic, the purpose of the event, the setting, the participants and the relationships, between them and the background knowledge and assumptions underlying the communicative event Following Hymes’ view, Brown and Yule (1983) have also specified the features on the context similar to Nunans’ 1.3.2 Context versus co- text Context is obviously different from co-text David Nunan points out that co-text is the linguistic element and the non-linguistic one is the context According to Brown and Yule (1983); any sentenece other than the first in a fragment of discourse will have the whole of its interpration forcibly constrained by the proceeding text “and” the words occur on discourse are constrained by their cotext Lets examine the following example : Australians are proud of their egalitarian society and boast about it They are right : their society is more egalitarian than any other and this is a trait to be proud of But when informality is a cult, you have to learn how to be informal (From Longman advanced English (1986-1987: 20 ) -5The word “informal” indeed posseses some different meanings Each meaning is detemined by its context, therefore, it is constrained by co-text The readers may find its lexical content in a dictionany and how its interpretation changes when it is embedded within the co-text The initial setting of the co-text determines the extent of the context within which the hearer will understand what is said next Co-text, a linguistic element helping to clarify the internal meaning of language, is the actual text surrounding a particular sentence as stated by Brown and Yule (1983: 49) “ the more context there is , the more secure the interpretation is” To J R Firth, a context of situation for linguistic work brings into relation the following categories: A-The relevant features of participants : persons, personalities including their verbal and non -verbal action B-The relevant objects C-The effect of the verbal action They are seen to be external to the text, so considered to be non –linguistic However, it is possible to reconstruct at least some part of the physical context and to arrive at some interpretation of the text Communications not merely depend on the context for their interpretation, they change that context (Isard,1975) In summary, context involves non-linguistic elements and co-text the linguistic ones Cohesion and coherence 2.1 Cohesion versus coherence Viewing from some points, the concept of cohesion is closely connected with discourse It is considered as the grammatical and lexical relationships between the different elements of a text in Richard et al’s view This relationship may be between different sentences on between difterent parts of a sentence For instance, Betweeen different sentences: I saw your ad in the paper about a good, well-paid job taking foreigners around Britain, and I am quite interested I went to the normal sort of schools and got most of the “o” level I took plus a few CSEs, that was in 1978 or 1979 Since school, I’ve been around quite a bit I had about two years in a school -6near Bristol looking after their social and sports programme and have spent a few summers showing tourists round England, which I quite liked I presume that that experience could be useful in some way in some place (Longman Advanced English,1986-1987: 61 ) Between different parts of sentence: Because my introduction was too short, I had to rewrite it (Guido Telemans, 1998-1999) In this sentence, there is obviously a link between “my introduction” and “it”.It is used to refer to “my introduction” As for Nunan (1993), coherence is “the feeling that sequences of sentences or uttrances seem to hang together” The following dialogue may provide an illustration : A-Clare loves potatoes B-She was born in Ireland (Guido Telemans, 1998-1999) Although the response seems unrelated to the former sentence, it becomes coherent if A already knows the sterotype ethnic association between being Irish and loving potatoes Cohesion is only a guide to coherence and coherene is something created by the readers in the act of reading the text Those are the essential elements that make the text or discourse coherent and different from random ones In summary, cohesion refers to the grammatical and lexical relationships between the different elements of a text whereas coherence refers to the relationships linking the meanings of utterances in a discourse or of the sentences in a text Coherence is embodied by a system of cohesive devices and cohesion, is maily used to embody coherence 2.2 Cohesive devices Coherence of discourse is associated with cohesion expressed by cohesive devices Halliday and Hasan (1976) provide a comprehensive description and analysis of these cohesive devices They stated that there are five different major types of cohesion, namely reference, substitution, ellipsis, conjunction and lexical cohesion 2.2.1 Reference -7Michael Mc Carthy (1991) points out that reference items in English include pronouns, demonstratives, the article and items like “such a” Halliday and Hasan (1976) identified two kinds of reference : exophora and endophora However, we only mention to the one used within a text : endophara Endophora can function in two ways : anaphoric and cataphoric Anaphoric reference can be confirmed by looking back in the text E.g Doctor Foster went to Gloucester in a shower of rain He stepped in a puddle right up to his middle and never went there again (Halliday and Hasan,1976) The pronoun “he” refers back to the previously mention name ”Doctor Forster”.The pronoun “they” refers back to the previously mention name “Doctor Foster” The demonstrative “this”in the following example can replace the whole sentence “he wins in the election” A : He wins in the election B : I can not believe this Cataphoric reference can be identified by looking forward in the text It can also be expressed in three different items : pronouns, demonstratives and comparison as of anaphonric Some examples can be effective illustration for this: They pressed round him in ragged fashion to take their money, Andy, Dave, Phil, Stephen, Bob (Graham Snift, the Sweet shop owner, Penguin Books Limited,1983:13 ) It is clear that “they” refers forward “Andy,Dave,Phil,Stephen, Bob” Cataphoric demonstrative can be seen in: This is the most famous singer, Elvis Presley 2.2.2 Ellipsis Ellipsis is the omission of elements required by the grammar which the speaker/ writer assumes are obvious from the context and therefore need not be raised There are three types of ellipsis: nominal,verbal and clausal E.g * Nominal: Nelly liked the green tiles, myself I preferred the blue (tiles) *Verbal: Do you usually go out at night? No,I not (usually go out at night) * Clausal: He said he would take early retirement as soon as he could and he has (taken early retirement) -82.2.3 Substitution Substitution is similar to ellipsis, in that, in English, it operates either as nominal, verbal or clausal level *Nominal: She chose the roast duck; I chose the same *Verbal: Did Mary take that letter? She might have done *Clausal: Do you need a lift? If so, wait for me;If not, I will see you there 2.2.4 Conjunction A conjunction does not set off a search backward or forward for its referent, but it does presuppose a textual sequence, and its signals a relationship between segments of the discourse There are four main kinds of conjunctions: additive, adversative, causal and temporal *Additive: signals the presentation of additional information like and, in addition, similarly E.g She is intelligent.and she is very reliable *Adversative : but, however, yet The information in the second sentence of the text moderates or qualifies the information in the first E.g: I have lived here ten years but I have never heard of that pub *Causal: because, consequently, hence The relationship here is one of cause and consequence E.g: He was insensitive to the groups’need Consequently there was a lot of bad feeling *Temporal: the events in the text are relate on terms of timing of their occurence such as : first, then, next, secondly, finally E.g: I got up then made my breakfast 2.2.5 Lexicalties When two words in a text are semantically related in some way, lexical cohesion occurs According to Halliday and Hasans’ view, there are two major categories of lexical ties: reiteration and collocation a-Reiteration Reiteration involves repetition, synonym (and near synonym), super ordinate and general word b-Repetition -9I would like to commend your organization for the important contribution it makes to our community, and I wish you and the other board members contimed success c-Synonym Nike invites people to call in It has encouraged thousand of potential consumers to reach for the telephone d-Superordinate and hymponym People can dial up and listen to celebrities talking to each other Famous athletes were employed to celebrities to record the messages In this example “people” is superodinate, “athletes” is hympony Politeness 3.1 What is politeness? Generally speaking, being polite is making people feel good, or in other words, politeness means showing consideration to others The concept of politeness has been overwhelmingly discussed Lakkoff regards politeness as “ a system of interpersonal relations designed to facilitate interactionby minimizing the potential for conflict and confrontation inherent in all human interchange” ( cited in Tran Ba Tien: 27) Yule specifically lists the characteristics of politeness, including “ being tacful, generous, modest and sympathetic toward others”( 1997: 60) Brown and Levison (1987) see politeness as a strategy/stategies used by a speaker to obtain a variety of objectives such as promoting or maintaining hamonious relation 3.2 Politeness strategies Geoge Yule (1996) identifies two kinds of politeness strategies : solidarity strategy and deference strategy This classification is similar to Brown and Levison’s (1987) division: positive politeness and negative politeness, respectively The tendency to use positive politeness forms, emphasizing closeness between speaker and hearer, can be seen as a solidarity strategy This may be the principal operating strategy among a whole group or it may be an opion used by an individual speaker or a particular occasion Linguistically, such a strategy will include personal information, use of nickname, sometimes even abusive terms (particularly among males), and shared dialect or slang -10expressions Frequently, a solidarity strategy will be marked via inclusive terms such as “we” and “let’s”, as in the party invitation in this following example: - Come on, let’s go to the party Everyone will be there We ’ll have fun (positive politeness) -Hey, Buddy Got a minute? (positive politeness) The tendency to use negative politeness forms, emphasizing the hearers’right to freedom, can be seen as a deference strategy It can be the typical strategy of a whole group or just an option used on a particular occasion, a deference strategy is involved in what is called “formal politeness” It is impersonal, as if nothing is shared, and can include expressions that refer to neither the speaker nor the hearer (for example, “Customers may not smoke here, sir”) the language associated with a deference strategy emphasizes the speaker’s and the hearers’independence, marked via an absence of personal claims, compare the following examples: There’s going to be a party, if you can make it.It will be fun An alternative version of the party invitation as in this following example: - Come on, let’s go to the party, everyone will be there we’ll have fun (positive politeness) According to Brown and Levison, the choice of appropriate polite forms in a given communicative situation depends on the following factors: the social distance (D) of speaker and hearer, the relative power (P) between them , and the absolute ranking (R) of imposition in the particular culture (1987: 74) 3.3 Social factors affecting the manipulation of politeness In order to make sense of what is said in an interaction, we have to look at various factors which relate to social distance and closeness Some of this factors are established prior to an interaction and hence are largely external factors They typically involve the relative status of the participants, based on social values tied to such things as age and power For example, speakers who see themselves as lower status in English-speaking contexts tend to mark social distance between themselves and higher status speakers by using address forms that include a title and a last name, but not the first name (for example, Mrs Clinton, Mr Adams, Dr Dang) We take part in wide range of interactions (mostly with strangers) where the social distance determined by external factor ... on English formal and informal correspondence V Design of the study Part A INTRODUCTION Rationale of for choosing the subject Aims of the study Methods of the study Scope of the study Design of. .. newspapers mainly employ a colloquial or informal style Kinds of correspondence There are two main kinds of correspondence: formal and informal ones 3.1 Formal letters .Formal letters are used for serious... help us define and identify registers Our analysis of informal and formal correspondence produces the following results: 1.3 Use of vocabulary According to G.B Antrughiha et.al, informal words