Abstract: Business negotiation is the process in which negotiators communicate and negotiate with each other by means of language, and the application of language largely determines the success or failure of the negotiation. Under a particular negotiation environment，both sides not only compete with each other but also cooperate in order to maximize their own interests. As the two parties maintain their own interests, there will be disagreement on some issues. In order to maintain a long-term friendly and sustainable cooperation relationship, both parties skillfully make some appropriate concessions. However,sometimes it is inevitable that the negotiation may be in deadlock. Therefore, adopting effective language strategies is particularly important in the business negotiation, and it influences the process as well as the result of the negotiation. This paper mainly discusses the application of rejection strategies in business negotiation, allowing readers to understand how to use proper rejection strategies to make sure successful negotiation. This paper first introduces the theoretical frameworks about Brown and Levinson's face theory and Leech's politeness principle, including the definition of face theory and its five remedial strategies, and explain its relationship with politeness principle. Then it elaborates the application of strategies on rejection with cases in different situations to summarize how to choose strategies accordingly. The final part is the conclusion of the paper.

Key words: business negotiation; rejection; strategies

CONTENTS

Abstract

摘要：

1. Introduction-1

2. Theoretical Framework-1

2.1 Brown and Levinson's Face Theory-2

2.2 Leech's Politeness Principle-3

3. Strategies of Rejection in Business English Negotiation-4

3.1 Agreeing Partially-4

3.2 Being Compromised-5

3.3 Being Euphemistic-6

3.4 Being Fuzzy-7

3.5 Being Decisive-8

4. Conclusion-9

Bibliography-10

Acknowledgements-11