Abstract:After years of reforming and opening up, China has ranked No. 2 economy in the world, second only to America. With the rapid pace of economic globalization and integration, there are more and more international business cooperation, especially among major economies. Therefore，business negotiation is increasingly vital in the business activities. Vague language, as an important language factor, attracts more attention from the language experts and negotiators. The paper, firstly, presents the concept of business negotiation, vague language, and collects several vague examples in Sino-American business negotiations;  then analyze the functions of vague language and summarizes the similarities and differences of vague language in Sino-American business negotiations. Finally, this paper offers constructive suggestions to both countries, so as to reduce direct conflicts in business negotiations and to make international negotiation run smoothly.

Key Words: international business corporations；Sino-American business negotiations；

vague language

CONTENTS

Abstract

中文摘要

1.Introduction1

2. Literature Review1

2.1 Definition of Vague Language

2.2 Definition of Business Negotiation 

2.3 Vague language in Business Negotiations

3. The Existence of Vague Language 3

3.1 Vague Language of Human Mind

3.2 Vague Language of Objective World 

4. Analysis of Vague Language in Sino-American Business Negotiations5

4.1 Functions of Vague Language in Business Negotiations

4.1 .1 Euphemism Function

4.1 .2 Politeness Function

4.1 .3 Improving Accuracy

4.2 Differences of Vague Language in Sino-American Business Negotiations

4.2.1 Difference of Usage Occasion

4.2.2 Difference of Intended Purpose

4.3 Similarities of Vague Language in Sino-American Business Negotiations

4.4 Causes of the Differences and Similarities of Vague Language in Sino-American Business Negotiations

5. Conclusions10

Bibliography...11

Acknowledgements..12