Abstract:With the development of Chinese foreign trade, English business correspondence becomes an important means of communication in business transactions. In order to improve communication efficiency, the application of politeness strategies rationally is of importance. 

　　　This thesis studies politeness strategies in English business correspondence from the perspective of Relevance Theory. Firstly, it analyzes positive politeness strategies and negative politeness strategies in English business correspondence at the sentence level. And then this thesis analyzes politeness strategies in three types of English business correspondences, namely   convivial letters, competitive letters and conflictive letters. At last, a descriptive analysis based on Brown and Levinson’s Face Theory and Relevance Theory, is carried out to show what kinds of politeness strategies are used in those three types of business correspondences from perspective of the reader.

　　　Through analysis, this thesis shows that appropriate application of politeness strategies can help people communicate more effectively and realize their communicative goals as well as achieving a better effect of communication in business transaction.

Key words: politeness; politeness strategy; Relevance theory; English business correspondence

摘要:随着中国对外贸易的快速发展，商务信函成为商务交易中一种重要的沟通方式，为了提高沟通有效性，礼貌策略在商务信函的运用显得很重要。

　　论文旨在从关联理论分析商务信函中的礼貌策略。首先，本文从句子结构这个层次，分析了积极礼貌策略和消极礼貌策略在商务信函中的运用，然后，本文分析三种类型商务信函，分别是谐类信函、竞争类信函和冲突类信函中的礼貌策略。最后，以布朗和列文森的面子保全论以及斯柏伯和威尔逊的关联理论为理论框架，从读者的角度出发，对该三种类型商务信函中各种礼貌策略的运用进行了描述性的分析。

　　本文通过研究分析发现，礼貌策略的正确运用可以帮助人们更有效地沟通，实现他们的沟通意图并且在商务交易中达到更好的沟通效果。

关键词：礼貌；礼貌策略；关联理论；商务信函