Abstract：With the enhancement of people’s legal awareness, English business contract which works as a legal document and weapon binding on the parties involved plays a increasingly important role in the business activities. English business contract has sharp stylistic features on its vocabulary. A good master of its stylistic features of vocabulary can contribute to helping the drafter of English business contract better draft contracts and fulfill a deal to avoid possible legal disputes. In this paper, the author will apply the theory of Grice's Cooperative Principle and analyse the stylistic features of vocabulary of English business contract from quantity maxim, quality maxim, relevance maxim, and manner maxim by combining Cooperative Principle with English business contract.

The whole paper consists of four chapters. The first chapter gives a brief introduction about the business contract and the background, significance of this study will be discussed in this chapter. The second chapter is the literature review, the present study of the domestic subject and the definition of Cooperative Principle will be explained in details. In the third chapter, five stylistic features of vocabulary in business contract are introduced and some examples are listed to analyse the stylistic features of vocabulary of the English business contract from the aspect of Cooperative Principle. The fourth chapter is a conclusion of the whole paper, and points out that the study of the stylistic features of vocabulary of business contract is beneficial to the success of a business. At the same time, the last chapter of this paper will list the limitation of this study. 

Key words: cooperative principle  business contract   stylistic features of vocabulary

Contents

Acknowledgements

Abstract

摘要

Chapter One Introduction-1

1.1 The Background of This Paper-1

1.2 The Purpose and Significance of This Study-1

1.3 The Structure of This Paper-1

Chapter Two Literature Review-3

2.1 Cooperative Principle and Its Four Maxims-3

2.1.1 Maxim of Quantity-3

2.1.2 Maxim of Quality-3

2.1.3 Maxim of Relevance-4

2.1.4 Maxim of Manner-4

2.2 Domestic Studies on the Stylistic Features of Business Contract-4

Chapter Three Analysis of the Stylistic Features of Vocabulary in English Business Contract from Cooperative Principle-7

3.1 The Definition of Business Contract-7

3.2 The Stylistic Features of Vocabulary of Business Contract-7

3.3 Analysis from Maxim of Quantity-8

3.4 Analysis from Maxim of Quality-9

3.5 Analysis from Maxim of Revelance -9

3.6 Analysis from Maxim of Manner-11

Chapter Four Conclusion-13

4.1 Conclusion-13

4.2 Limitation of This Study-13

References-14