Business letter in the system of modern interpersonal communication (based on Russian and Arabic business correspondence)

Al- Anbagi Shaymaa Thamer Hasan Postgraduate student, Department of Russian Language and Teaching Methods, Peoples' Friendship University of Russia 6 Miklukho-Maklaya str., Moscow, 117198, Russia shaimatamerhasan@yandex.ru Other publications by this author

Introduction

It is impossible to imagine the modern world without business communication, the thoughtfulness of which determines the commercial success of an enterprise or organization, the prospects for cooperation between participants in business communication, and the nature of relations between them. In the business sphere, certain stereotypes of behavior have developed, the main of which are high standards, rigor, detachment, and minimal manifestation of the personal qualities of correspondents. The main thing in business communication is considered to be the solution of current diplomatic, economic, commercial and other issues, rather than interpersonal interaction and the communicative comfort of communicants. However, over the past few decades, starting mainly from the turn of the XIX–XX centuries, the situation began to change. In business communication from different countries of the world, the personal principle begins to sound more clearly, the individuality of the author manifests itself. We see the reasons for this, firstly, in the democratization of communication, secondly, in the humanization of public space, increasing attention to the personality of each of its participants, increasing the importance of the personal in comparison with the public, changing the social role of the individual. The letters begin to create an individual image of the author, which affects the linguistic and stylistic means used here. On the one hand, business letters are still part of "official public and semi-official interpersonal communication (in the absence of trusting interpersonal relationships)" ^{[1, p. 54]}, on the other hand, it is interpersonal relationships that are beginning to play an increasingly important role in it.

Literature review

Modern business writing and changes in its content, style, and structure are being actively studied by linguists. The article analyzes electronic business letters, which occupy an increasingly important place in business communication, including the means of speech etiquette in them ^[2], the variability of business Internet communication ^[3], the penetration of elements of oral speech into it, the less formal nature of business writing ^{[4, p. 334]}, etc. There is a great emotional saturation modern business letters ^[5]. D. A. Novikov notes in this regard: "Expressivity, unacceptable for use in the official business style, is increasingly found in many of its genres, in particular in business letters" ^{[6, p. 50]}.

Few modern linguists pay attention to the change of the personal beginning of business writing in the system of modern interpersonal communication. S. E. Cho notes the strengthening of the personal principle in modern Russian business correspondence, manifested in the content of letters with the standard structure of their structure ^{[7, p. 53]}. According to L. V. Selezneva, the use of language units in the business sphere and compliance with norms "are increasingly conditioned by the communicative expediency and communicative competence of the letter compiler" ^{[8, p. 204]}, that is, they depend on the characteristics of his personality. There is an increase in the "addressee factor" in business writing, on the specifics of perception of which the author's communicative behavior depends, his choice of "means of addressing (addresses, pronouns, metatext, introductory words, cliches)" ^{[9, p. 336]}. The manifestation of the personal principle can also be explained by the use of phatic elements by the authors of business letters: compliments, confessions, jokes, etc. ^{[10, p. 131]}. As a result, the communicative space of business writing is formed at the intersection of the interests and personal characteristics of two subjects of communication – the addressee and the addressee. These two sides, in the words of I. A. Tortunova, are beginning to use "new, more modern features aimed at cooperative and two-way communication" in business letters for more successful interaction ^{[11, p. 85]}. It is necessary to consider modern business writing as a phenomenon of interpersonal communication, from the point of view of reflecting the personal characteristics of the author in it. A comparative study will make it possible to do this in a more reasoned manner.

The purpose of the article is to identify the features of Russian and Arabic business writing as components of modern interpersonal communication, including evaluating the transformation of the author's image and personality in modern business correspondence.

The texts of about three hundred business letters in Russian and Arabic (Iraqi) concerning the fields of diplomacy, education, trade, etc. became the material for practical research.

The results of the study

It is important for a modern native speaker to express himself in the works of any style and genre he creates. A "modal personality type is being formed with a predominant orientation towards individual personal values, norms of behavior and activity" ^{[12, p. 139]}. Such verbal behavior also penetrates into the sphere of business writing, which, by its genre nature, is characterized by personal detachment, coldness, formality, and standardization developed over centuries of development of the official business style. A person in a business letter should speak not on his own behalf, but on behalf of the organization, and therefore in every possible way reduce the personal nature of communication, at the same time today this does not always happen.

Business communication in Russian is becoming more personal, and the author's personality is more evident in it. The image of the author as a person is formed with the help of:

– definitely-personal offers, which create an atmosphere of personal care for the recipient, attention to him: "We will be glad to see you participate in the conference", "We offer you an affiliate program ...". Sentences with a predicate in the singular form add a colloquial stylistic connotation to letters: "I beg your pardon again", create an atmosphere of intimate interaction;

– two - part sentences instead of one - part sentences: "We are pleased to introduce our company to you...", in which the grammatically superfluous pronoun is designed to focus attention on the personality of the author, to create a more distinct image of him;

– interrogative constructions, for example, a question-and-answer one, forming the dialogism of the text: "What should be done taking into account the current situation? Our suggestions...";

– exclamation points that were previously found only in a standard address ("Dear Sergey Alexandrovich!"), but are currently used to influence the emotions of the addressee: "We guarantee you excellent service, attractive prices and high-quality products!";

– incentive sentences with predicates in the form of imperative verbs, which were previously almost never encountered, since imperativeness was expressed using indirect means, and today they appear: "Cooperate with us, and you are guaranteed success!";

– introductory constructions, with the help of which the author of the letter creates his own image of a living person who is able to sympathize with the communicant even in conditions of impossibility of cooperation with him: "Unfortunately, we have to refuse your very advantageous offer."

As a result, in Russian-language business letters, the distance between the author and the addressee decreases, and a space of direct, personally and emotionally colored communication is formed. The author demonstrates his interest not only in further business interaction, but also in communication; the addressee feels involved in the work, ready to cooperate. Convincing the addressee of the need for such cooperation occurs imperceptibly, not at the expense of meaningful, logical means, but with the help of emotional, psychological ones.

Strengthening the personal principle of Russian business writing inevitably leads to a loosening of the norm ^[13]. Expressing himself, starting to write in a personalized way, the author departs from the standard, manifested, among other things, in observing the literary norms of writing. This consequence of the analyzed process is undoubtedly negative.

In Arabic business letters, the general tendency to strengthen the personal principle in business correspondence also cannot but manifest itself, but this happens to a much lesser extent. The Arab communicative tradition is characterized by the predominance of the public, collective over the personal, the manifestation of emphasized respect and reverence for the addressee. The author traditionally tries to step back into the background, emphasize his detachment, not show individuality, and downplay his importance. Here, there is a depersonalization of business communication, which, in particular, is manifested by the absence of the author's own name in the letter, neither in the initial nor in the final parts of the letter. At the same time, the position, title and other socially significant signs of the addressee will be indicated.

The manifestation of personal qualities largely depends on the position held by the Arabic-speaking addressee, on his weight in society. If this is a high enough position, then the author's "I" sounds more confident. For example:

أنقل لكم اعتذارنا عن عدم الحضور في الوقت الحاضر بسبب المشاغل الكثيرة واستلام مهمام الوزارة الى عهد قريب وما يترتب على ذلك من تبعات دقيقة تستغرق منا اغلب الوقت، ونحن اذ نثمن مساعيكم الإنسانية تجاه العراق شعباً وحكومة، والنهوض بواقع الحال الى الأفضل، نعلمكم عن استعدادنا للحضور في شهر تشرين

Translation: "Please accept my sincere apologies that our meeting did not take place. I was unable to attend it due to the ongoing assumption of official duties and the numerous troubles associated with it, which take up a significant amount of time." The author (the Iraqi Minister of Health) in this letter of apology informs the addressee of the circumstances that prevented him from arriving at the meeting, while the apology sounds quite cordial and personal. Personal circumstances are positioned as important because the author occupies a significant position in society. At the same time, it is important for the author of modern Russian business writing to declare his subjectivity, to show individuality regardless of the position he holds. The Arab addressee, if he does not hold a high position, is prevented from demonstrating his own original image in the letter by subordination, the traditional desire to be part of the team, not to stand out against its background.

In Arabic business writing, the effect of the tendency to strengthen the personal principle in business correspondence, the formation of the author's image in business writing is weakened due to cultural and historical reasons, however, this trend also works here, albeit less noticeably. The more personal nature of the correspondence makes communication more effective, facilitates communication, helps the subjects of communication to establish closer contact, which means that they can solve their business problems sooner and better.

Conclusion

The changes taking place in the social, technological and political spheres of society necessarily affect the relations between people, their perception of themselves and each other, which, in turn, affects the styles, genres, and linguistic means they use in speech. The strengthening of the personal principle in modern Russian business writing at the moment can be considered not only a trend, but also a fait accompli stylistic fact. In addition to the democratization of communication and the humanization of public life, in our opinion, the transition of a significant part of business documentation to the Internet space, which, by its very nature, dictates a decrease in the formality and standard of communication, affects the increase in the personal character of relationships in the business sphere. For the author of a Russian business letter, the pragmatic component of communication is very important; he seeks to convince the addressee of something and thereby ensure the success, including commercial, of his own enterprise. Strengthening the personal principle becomes one of the ways to achieve this goal and even manipulate the addressee's consciousness. The author of a business letter strives for personal self-realization, and business correspondence acquires a personal coloring.

Arabic business writing is less susceptible to personal transformations than Russian. This is due to the peculiarities of Arab culture, which is characterized by a collective beginning. The author tries to express himself less vividly in Arabic writing; the personal principle is strong only in business letters, the authors of which occupy high positions and have a significant social position.

Russian Russian and Arabic business correspondence may differ in the speed with which the tendency to strengthen the personal principle spreads, due to the predominant attraction of Russian culture to the European language tradition and the great conservatism of the Arab cultural space.

The prospects of the research conducted in this paper consist in identifying and describing other linguistic, stylistic, structural, and substantive features of Russian and Arabic business letters, which are currently undergoing transformations, undergoing changes under the influence of various extralinguistic factors.