商务合同英语的词汇特征_英文_

【摘要】商务合同用语属半法律性语言，它要求用词准确、正式、严谨。

依据对典型实例的分析，从书卷词语，专业术语，古体词，外来词，词语并列及模糊限制词等方面论述商务合同英语在词汇层次方面所体现出来的文体特征，对实际写作具有一定的指导意义。

【关键词】商务合同英语词汇特征严谨性【中图分类号】H319【文献标识码】A【文章编号】1009－8534（2009）01－0122－05*[收稿日期]2008－12－20[作者简介]董乐（1982－），女，安徽宿州人，宿州职业技术学院助教。

一、Introduction ：English for business contract and its genreA contract in Contract Law refers to an agreement es-tablishing ，modifying and terminating the civil rights andobligations between subjects of equal footing ，that is ，be-tween natural persons ，legal persons or other organizations．Business contract is a contract with a natural person or a legal person reaches according to certain legal procedure in order to realize certain business purpose．It has binding oneach party．English for business contract is a kind of stylistic format formed with continuous development of goods produc-tion and increasing frequency of trade relations ，it is a kind of written language which is widely used in business con-tract ，agreement ，L ／G ，bond．Business contract is a legal document which is signed in business activities ，therefore ，it has both characters of business English and legal English．Martin Joos put forward five styles in terms of the scale of formality ：frozen style ，formal style ，consultative style ，casu-al style and intimate style．Interpersonal purpose is a majorfactor in forming language scope ，different communicationpurposes require different styles．English for business contractbelongs to frozen style ：the most formal level of language ，which is used on public ，serious occasions or in the formalwritten language．二、Lexical characteristicsFrom the angle of linguistics ，law language is like tech-nical terms ，business terms ，belongs to one style ，exactly speaking ，register or professional jargon ，thus English forbusiness contract should belong to one of registers．The rea-son why law language exists is that it has several character-istics as precision ，formality and ambiguity．Precision is the intrinsic nature of law language．“So someone says precision is life line of law language．”One distinct character law lan-guage is different from literature ，technology ，news broad-cast ，opera ，advertising is its formality ，formality being de-termined by communicationfunction of law language．An-other distinct character is compactness．English for businesscontract belongs to semi－law language ，so it has characteris-tics of precision ，formality ，compactness．The purpose Eng-lish for business contract pursue is not language ’s artistic beauty ，but logic ’s accuracy and compactness ，expression ’s formality and logic ’s lucidity and orderliness．The use of lit-erary words ，technical terms ，archaism ，loanword ，juxtaposition ，and hedges embodies stylistic characteristics English for busi-ness contract on gradation of lexicon．These characteristics are closely related to nature of contract and have close relations with writing of every clause of contract．1．Formal terms ，a mass use of literary words or learned wordsEnglish for business contract makes direct and clear specifications for exact meaning and scope of each party ，the wording must be compact ，frozen ，formal and doesn ’t bring商务合同英语的词汇特征董乐（宿州职业技术学院安徽·宿州234101）1222009年2月Journal of Suzhou Education Institute F e b.2009individual emotional hint．We can see this point from the wide use of“small”in contract．“Shall”expresses obligation the party need to bear or stipulation they must do，having the meaning of“should”，“must”．Here is an example：The Board meeting shall be called and presided over by the chairman．Should the chairman be absent，the vice－chair-man shall，call and preside over the board meeting．In this sentence，if“shall”is replaced by“should”or “must”，the meaning is completely different．“Shall”expresses mandatory obligation．Latinate words are often used to replace general English vocabulary．We call them literary words or learned words．For example：The first board meeting shall be convened within one month after the issuance of the company’s business license．In this sentence，“called”and“convened”have the same meaning，but the former is replaced by the latter，“con-vened”is more formal than“called”．Besides，the complicate preposition phrases are used to replace simple preposition and conjunctions．For example：The participants in the joint venture shall commence discussion with regard to the extension of the period of exis-tence of the venture and in the event of their agreeing upon such extension，they shall record such agreement in a writ-ten document signed by all of them not later than three years prior to the expiry of the current period．In this sentence，we use“with regard to”，“in the event of”and“prior to”respectively to replace“about”，“in case of”and“before”．A number of phrases and idioms are used in contracts，but they must be formal words．A few of exam-ples are used below：“根据”，“按照”we should use“in accordance with”to in-stead of“according to”，because“according to”is informal and is often used in oral English．“因为”we use“by virtue of”in-stead of“due to”，“because of”is seldom used．“财务年度末”we use“at the close of the fiscal year”instead of“in the end of the fiscal year”“事实上”use“in effect”instead of“in fact”．“停止做”use“cease to do”instead of“stop to do”．It is obviously inappropriate to use slang in frozen style，it can’t strengthen expression effect，on the contrary，it makes the language funny and ridiculous．Of course，the choice of formalness and informality is relative，no difference of superi-ority or inferiority，all must depend on concrete occasions．Understanding the difference between words and literary words in stylistic genre helps realize language communica-tion’s appropriateness and properness．2．A mass use of technical termsTechnical terms possess bright stylistic characters．The meaning is accurate，unique，clear．In order to describe each trade link and relevant documents，many business technical terms appear in business contract．Here is an example：Within the validity period of contract，license shall not disclose or divulge know－how to any third party without prior written consent of licensor．In this sentence，“know－how”is a business technical term，it refers to chartered products’production，use，sales and non－chartered products’all technical data，design，techni-cal standard，production program，descriptive paper，other data．Contract document is a legal document which is signed and obeyed by both parties，therefore the language of con-tract should embody definitiveness．One character of English contract is showing in using technical terms．Besides，in or-der to give an accurate description of each party’s right and obligation，a number of legal terms are used．In a narrow sense，it refers to special terms which appear in legal docu-ments in most cases，the number is not large．For example；imputed negligenc（转嫁的过失责任）．This kind of legal terms are transferred independent of the public’s understanding or acceptance，it is indemnity for language’s accurate expres-sion，it is a unique phenomenon．However，legal terms，in a broad sense，refers to common words which are endowed with specific legal meaning in a legal style．For example：action （诉讼），party（当事人），financial responsibility（经济责任，指违约责任，具体可指“赔偿损失”、“支付违约金”和“支付迟延支付金额的利息”）．It can be seen that these words are common in everyday English，but have specialized legal meanings．The following is contract clause about arbitration one import company and exporter signed，the bracketed parts are common legal tech-nical terms．All disputes in connection with this contract or the exe-cution thereof shall be amicably settled through negotiation．In case no settlement can be reached between the two par-ties，the case under disputes shall be submitted to the For-eign Trade Arbitration Commission of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade for arbitratio（仲裁），arbi-tration shall take place in Beijing，China and shall be exe-cuted in accordance with the Provisional Rules of Procedures （仲裁程序）of the said commission，and the decision（终局裁决）made by the commission shall be accepted as final（）and binding upon both parties．It can be seen that wording of English for business contract has the character of technical terms．Besides，tech-nical terms are different from jargon，jargon often have stylistic color of informal words，however technical terms be-long to formal words．Special phrases such as“whereas，in witness whereof，know all men by these presents”often ap-pear in contract．These words or phrases are seldom used in daily communication．For example：123In witness whereof，the parties hereto have caused the agreements to be executed on the day and year first before written in accordance with their respective laws．We can translate as：本协议书与上面所签定的日期，由双方根据各自的法律签定，开始执行，特立此据。