Business terminology in negotiation thuật ngữ kinh tế trong đàm phán thương mại quốc tế

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION

GRADUATION PAPER

BUSINESS TERMINOLOGY IN NEGOTIATION

Supervisor: Nguyen Xuan Thom (Assoc. Prof. Dr.)
Student: Do Mai Anh
QH2011.F.1.E8

Ha Noi – 2015


IH

QU

GI H N I

guy n u n h m
inh vi n

Mai Anh

QH2011.F.1.E8

Ha Noi – 2015

)

ACCEPTANCE
I hereby state that I: DO MAI ANH, QH2011.F.1.E8, being a candidate for the
degree of Bachelor of Arts (TEFL) accept the requirements of the College relating to
the retention and use of Bachelor‘s Graduation Paper deposited in the library.
In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in
the

library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in

accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan
or reproduction of the paper.

Signature

May 1st 2015

i


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all, on the completion of the study, I would like to express my deepest
gratitude to my supervisor, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Thom for his immeasurable help,
constant guidance and support during all stages of the study and beyond, from whom I
have received valuable suggestions and careful critical comments.
Second, I would like to send my heartfelt thanks to my teacher and also my
special friend Ms. Nguyen Dieu Linh, who has enthusiastically helped me in the data
collection process – a decisive factor for the success of this study.
I also owe a great debt of gratitude to my parents, my sister and my friends,

who have constantly encouraged me and supported me wholeheartedly during the
time of conducting the research.
Last but not least, I would like to thank the readers who share their interest and
feedback on the study.

ii


ABSTRACT
Nowadays, with the development of globalization and economic integration,
economics and the related issues have become one of the most-mentioned topics
worldwide.

Therefore, the need for a good command of English is more and more

increasing. It is vital for people, especially students majoring in Economics and
businessmen, to have deep understandings of English for economics in general as well
as business terminology in particular.
By employing 30 English business negotiation conversations, the study
demonstrates the understandings of the dominant part in business that is negotiation,
as well as how language is used in terms of terminology. The result confirms the
exploitation of terminology in negotiation conversations. Nevertheless, the syntactic
and sematic features of business terms are also revealed. Finally, some classifications
are given with the hope to enhance the knowledge of terminology so that people could
communicate with one another better.

iii


CONTENTS

CHAPTER I – INTRODUCTION ............................................................................. 1
CHAPTER II – LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................ 5
1.

Negotiation ............................................................................................................. 5

1.1.

Definition ............................................................................................................ 5

1.2.

The characteristics of negotiation ....................................................................... 6

1.3.

Negotiation strategies and styles......................................................................... 7

1.4.

Negotiator............................................................................................................ 8

2.

Terminology ........................................................................................................... 9

2.1.

Definition ............................................................................................................ 9

2.2.

Main characteristics of terminology ................................................................... 9

2.2.1.

Accuracy.......................................................................................................... 9

2.2.2.

Systematicality .............................................................................................. 10

2.2.3.

Internationality .............................................................................................. 11

2.2.4.

Nationality ..................................................................................................... 11

2.2.5.

Popularity ...................................................................................................... 11

2.3.

The distinction between terms and words......................................................... 12

2.4.

Structure of term ............................................................................................... 12

2.4.1.

One-word terms and neologisms................................................................... 12

2.4.1.1.

One-word terms in the form of verb .......................................................... 13

2.4.1.2.

One-word terms in the form of noun ......................................................... 13

2.4.1.3.

Eponyms derived from the names of economists ...................................... 13

2.4.1.4.

Economic acronyms................................................................................... 13

2.4.2.

Above-word- level terms................................................................................ 14

2.4.2.1.

Nominal group ........................................................................................... 14

2.4.2.2.

Economic above-word- level terms in the form of nominal group ............ 15

3.

Related studies ...................................................................................................... 15

CHAPTER III - METHODOLOGY ........................................................................ 17
1.

Participants ........................................................................................................... 17

2.

Research instruments ............................................................................................ 18

3.

Data analysis methods and procedure................................................................... 18

CHAPTER IV: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION.................................................... 19
iv


1.

Realization of the linguistic features of negotiation language .............................. 19

1.2.

EXPLORING INITIAL POSITIONS, STATING NEEDS AND ASKING

QUESTIONS: .............................................................................................................. 19
1.3.

BARGAINING: ................................................................................................ 20

1.4.

CLOSING THE DEAL ..................................................................................... 21

2.

Realization of the linguistic features of business terminology ............................. 21

2.1.

Syntactic idiomaticity of English Business terms............................................. 22

2.2.

Semantic idiomaticity of English business terms ............................................. 24

2.2.1.

Overview of the semantic idiomaticity of English business terms ............... 24

2.2.2.

Classification of English idiomatic economic terminology according to their

semantic features.......................................................................................................... 25
2.2.2.1.

Success and failure in business .................................................................. 25

2.2.2.2.

Money ........................................................................................................ 26

2.2.2.3.

People in business ...................................................................................... 28

2.2.2.4.

Shares and assets........................................................................................ 29

2.2.2.5.

Work and job ............................................................................................. 30

3.

Discussion of the findings .................................................................................... 32

CHAPTER V - CONCLUSION ................................................................................ 34
1.

Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 34

2.

Pedagogical implications ...................................................................................... 34

3.

Limitations of the study: ....................................................................................... 34

4.

Recommendation for further studies: ................................................................... 35

REFERENCES........................................................................................................... 36
APPENDIX 1: ENGLISH BUSINESS NEGOTIATION CONVERSATIONS ... 38

v


LIST OF TABLES
Table

Page

Table 1 - Examples of Relationship building phase................................................................. 24
Table 2 - Examples of Exploring initial positions, stating needs and asking questions ........... 24
Table 3 – Examples of Bargaining............................................................................................ 25
Table 4 – Examples of Closing the deal................................................................................... 26
Table 5 – Types of English idiomatic business terms in terms of syntax ................................. 27

Table 6 – Number of English idiomatic business compound types ......................................... 28
Table 7 - Success and failure in business.................................................................................. 31
Table 8 – Money....................................................................................................................... 32
Table 9 - People in business...................................................................................................... 34
Table 10 - Shares and assets ................................................................................................... 36
Table 11 - Work and job .......................................................................................................... 37

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CHAPTER I – INTRODUCTION
This initial chapter is supposed to clarify the research questions and provide
the rationale for the study. The aims of the study, the scope of the study and the
significance of the paper are also introduced. Last but not least, this chapter provides
a sketch of the organization of the paper to orientate the reader through the paper.

1. Rationale
As English becomes the international language, it is used around the world as an
effective communication tool in almost every field. In economy, the cooperation
among different countries is increasing, that leads to great changes and progresses, as
well as dramatic development in various nations, especially in Vietnam. However,
due to the fact that not every English speaker is a native speaker, which means the
understanding of the language‘s lexicon and grammatical structures of communicators
does not meet in common, it is unavoidable that misunderstanding in communication
and difficulties in translation might occur. That leads to a constant need of more
thorough and deeper investigation into the word formation in order to minimize
misunderstanding when people from different countries interact with each other.

Likewise, business terminology is an evitable part of our daily life, especially in
business negotiation. However, many studies regarding the terminology of finance

and banking, diplomacy, medicine and so on have been carried out in Vietnam and in
other inter-language of English learners of different language backgrounds, but little
attention is paid to the business terminology in negotiation, and the number of
researches concerning this aspect is even less. In other words, business terminology in
negotiation is an area that not much research has been dedicated.

Besides, as the new terminology keep created in pace with the economic
development, translating and understanding economic documents in general and
terminology in particular is quite challenging.

There are linguistic differences

between two language systems and the most noticeable difficulty is the problem of
how to deal with non-equivalence business terms.
1


Since the researcher finds this problem worth investigating, she decides to conduct
this paper to dig deeper in the linguistic features of negotiation language in general
and economic terminology in particular.
For all considered, the researcher comes up with her paper‘s title: “Business
terminology in negotiation”.

2. Aims of the study
Firstly, the research paper is expected to provide some theoretical background on
terminology in general and in business negotiation in particular, and word formation
to form economic terminology in English and Vietnamese. Secondly, by analyzing
main features of English economic terminology in terms of characteristics and
compositions, the researcher would like to give those who are ESP students as well as
potential negotiators in English – Vietnamese negotiation some suggestions to

improve their competence of doing business communication.

3. Research questions
Based on the aims of the study, here are two questions that need addressing:
i.

What are the linguistic features of expressions in negotiation language?

ii. What are the semantic and syntactic features of business terminology?

4. Scope of the study
Due to the time constraints and limited ability of the researcher, this study only
focuses on investigating the classification, grammatical structures and other main
features such as characteristics and compositions of English business terminology in
negotiation.

This study is conducted using the business terminology collected from various
specialized books and dictionaries, namely Oxford Business English Dictionary for
Learners of English (Parkinson, 2008), Phát ngôn như là đơn vị giao tiếp trong đàm
phán thương mại quốc tế (Nguyen Xuan Thơm, 2001), Idiomaticity and Terminology:

2


A Multidimensional Descriptive Model (Barkema, 1996), Farlex Financial Dictionary
(Farlex, 2009), Essay on Terminology (Rey 1995).

5. Significance of the study
Conducting this research paper, the researcher expects to reinforce knowledge
about terminology in general and business terms in negotiation which is considered

one of the factors influencing the success of business communication in particular.
Additionally, suggestions for proficient verbal reactions when negotiating are also
provided in this paper.

Once completed, the research is surmised to serve as a reference for those who
want to have a better insight of terminology used in negotiation regarding word
formation. Moreover, the paper will help them set a background or a base for further
study about Economic terminology in the future.

6. Method of the study
To address two research questions, both qualitative and analytical methods are
used. Descriptive and comparative processes are predominantly employed to analyze
the language patterns used in negotiation. The author examines some materials like
books, articles, journals and other kinds of text which involve the economics
terminology to discover its linguistic features and then categorizes them into different
types.
Besides, the researcher employs other channels to support the study. Personal
observations, consultancy from supervisor and findings of previous studies about this
issue are also useful sources of information that the researcher exploits during the
process of conducting this paper.
7. Organization of the study
The study consists of five chapters as follows:
Chapter I (Introduction) highlights Rationale, Aims of the Study and
Research questions, Method of the Study, Scope of the Study, Significance of the
Study and Organization of the Study.

3


Chapter II (Literature Review) provides the theoretical framework of the

study, including discussion of the key terms and related studies.
Chapter III (Finding and Discussion) presents, analyzes and discusses the
results that the researcher found out from some materials. This chapter also gives
answer to the two research questions.
Chapter IV (Conclusion) summarizes the key points, states the limitations and
suggests further studies.

4


CHAPTER II – LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter is presented in order to establish the theoretical framework for the
researcher’s investigation. Firstly, it deals with the conceptual aspects of negotiation
and conversation as well as the business ones. Secondly, a set of theories of
terminology and its characteristics will be reviewed. Thirdly, it highlights the
structures and meanings of economics terms used in negotiation. And lastly, it
explains how the researcher’s study fulfills some related studies.
1. Negotiation
1.1.

Definition

―Negotiation‖ is considered as such a broad and complex concept that it has
hundreds of definitions.

ccording to

hristopher W. Moore, ―Negotiation is one of

the most common approaches used to make decisions and manage disputes. It is also

the major building block for many other alternative dispute resolution procedures‖. If
Moore defined ―negotiation‖ from viewpoint of social anthropology, Ray Fell, in his
book ―Effective negotiation‖ (2009) tried to make it simpler by explaining that
negotiation is simply a process where two parties with differences which they need to
resolve are trying to reach agreement. Meanwhile, sharing the idea that negotiation is
closely related to purposeful discussion, both Fisher (2011) and Nguyen Xuan Thom
(2001) concluded that ―Negotiation is back‐and‐forth communication designed to
reach agreement when you and the other side have some interests that are shared and
others that are opposed‖ and ―Negotiation is a social phenomenon, a form of
communication with high purposefulness, aiming at satisfactorily solving problematic
situations

between

groups

or

individuals

in

social or

community

activities‖

respectively. Another widely-accepted definition of negotiation is the one provided by
Oxford

dvanced Learner‘s Dictionary. In this definition, negotiation is a ―formal

discussion between people who are trying to reach an agreement‖. It can be seen that
there are many phases that negotiating process contains, but it only comes to an end
until the issues discussed are successfully resolved.
In conclusion, it can be said that negotiation is to communicate with the objective
of reaching an agreement. The stages of negotiation can be various, but they are all

5


starting with discussing and ending with fully resolving issues raised. Additionally,
compromise is the main means of communication.
1.2.

The characteristics of negotiation

According to Lewicki (2014), negotiation has some fundamental features as
follows.
Firstly, there are two or more parties - that is, two or more individuals, groups, or
organizations. Although people can ―negotiate‖ with themselves - as when someone
debates in their head whether to spend a Saturday afternoon studying, playing tennis,
or going to the football game – they consider negotiation as a process between
individuals, within groups, and between groups.
Secondly, there is a conflict of needs and desires between two or more parties –
that is, what one wants is not necessarily what the other one wants – and the parties
must search for a way to resolve the conflict.
Thirdly, the parties negotiate by choice. That is, they negotiate because they think
they can get a better deal by negotiating than by simply accepting what the other side

will voluntarily give them or let them have. Negotiation is largely a voluntary process.
People negotiate because they think they can improve their outcome or result,
compared with not negotiating or simply accepting what the other side offers. It is a
strategy pursued by choice; seldom are people required to negotiate. There are times
to negotiate and times not to negotiate.
Additionally, when people negotiate, they expect a ―give-and-take‖ process that is
fundamental to the understanding of the word ―negotiation‖. They expect that both
sides will modify or move away from their opening statements, requests, or demands.
However, truly creative negotiations may not require compromise; instead the parties
may invent a solution that meets the objectives of all parties.
Moreover, the parties prefer to negotiate and search for agreement rather than to
fight openly have one side dominate and the other capitulate, permanently break off
contact, or take their dispute to a higher authority to resolve it. Negotiation occurs
when the parties prefer to invent their own solution for resolving the conflict, when

6


there is no fixed or established set of rules or procedures for how to resolve the
conflict, or when they choose to bypass those rules.
Finally, successful negotiation involves the management of tangibles (e.g., the
price or the terms of agreement) and also the resolution of intangibles. Intangible
factors are the underlying psychological motivations that may directly or indirectly
influence the parties during a negotiation. Some examples of intangibles are (a) the
need to ―win,‖ beat the other party, or avoid losing to the other party; (b) the need to
look ―good,‖ ―competent,‖ or ―tough‖ to the people you represent; (c) the need to
defend an important principle or precedent in a negotiation; and (d) the need to appear
―fair,‖ or ―honorable‖ or to protect one‘s reputation; or (e) the need to maintain a
good relationship with the other party after the negotiation is over, primarily by
maintaining trust and reducing uncertainty (Saorin-Iborra, 2006).

1.3.

Negotiation strategies and styles

Strategy and style are familiar concept. When talking about those things, people
often link them with the plan intended to achieve a specific purpose and the particular
way in which something is done. G. Nicolas Herman and Jean M. Cary (2001) have
more precise definitions: ―Negotiating strategy is simply the conceptual model or
approach chosen in conducting the negotiation – whether adversarial, problem solving
or some combination of the two‖ and ―negotiating style refers to the negotiator‘s
interpersonal behavior in the negotiation setting, and often will be affected by the
particular strategy chosen‖. Generally, there are three types of negotiating styles: (1)
competitive (hardball), (2) cooperative (softball), or (3) a combination of competitive
and cooperative (hardball and softball).
a. Competitive (Hardball) Style
The competitive style is typically characterized
confrontational

approach.

Winning

is

everything,

by aggressiveness and a
and

personal feelings

and

interpersonal relationships are viewed as essentially irrelevant. Threats, intimidation,
and Machiavellian tactics are sometimes employed. (Herman, Cary, 2001)
b. Cooperative (Softball) Style

7


The cooperative style is the antithesis of the competitive style. The cooperative
negotiator places a premium on interpersonal relations, and strives for common
ground, shared interests, and understanding between the parties. The style is typically
sincere, accommodating and low key. While it should not be confused with weakness,
it often conveys that image. (Herman, Cary, 2001)
c. Competitive – Cooperative (Hardball and Softball) Style
The competitive – cooperative style represents a middle ground between hardball
and softball. Here, many advantages of the competitive and cooperative approaches
are combined in a style that is professionally amicable, open-minded, but firm. Under
this approach, realistic concessions are made to satisfy the objectives of both parties
that are consistent or not mutually exclusive. Conflicting objectives are resolved by
compromise or by some creative solution that maximizes as many of the parties‘
remaining objectives as possible. (Herman, Cary, 2001)
1.4.

Negotiator

A negotiator may be a buyer or seller, a customer or supplier, a boss or employee,
a business partner, a diplomat, or a civil servant. People do not negotiate only in
business life but also in personal life. People cannot avoid negotiations. A negotiator

may be a spouse, friend, parent or child. In all these cases the negotiating skills
strongly influences the ability to get ahead in both organizational life and in other
interpersonal relationships. (Acuff, 2008)
Negotiators influence the negotiation process with their own experience and
negotiating skills (Ghauri and Usunier, 2003). People negotiate with external business
counterparts outside the organization and also with internal co-workers within the
organization. The main objective of all negotiation situations is to help to get what the
negotiator wants. One of the biggest reasons why people negotiate is that they value
things differently. The value of the deal can be different for each party even though its
price in money is the same. That is because value and price are not always the same.
According to Kennedy (2004) value is to do with motivation (why we want
something) whereas price only measures its transaction cost (what we have to pay to
get it). Most negotiators rarely talk motivations; they talk prices.

8


2. Terminology
2.1.

Definition

Obviously, the use of economics terminology in business negotiation is not
limited among people having the same backgrounds. There are several definitions of
terminology by various linguists. According to the author of Collins Cobuild
Dictionary (Collins, 2006) it is simply ―a set of special words and expressions used in
connection with it‖. This is also what is proposed in Russian Encyclopedia (1976)
―Terminology is a word or a combination of words that denotes the concept precisely
and its relationship with other concepts in a specific area. Terminology is a
specialized and restricted expression on things, phenomena, characteristics, and the

relationship in a specific profession‖.
Having similar idea, in a shorter way, Do (1998) states that it is ―specialist words
used within a scientific field, a profession or any technological field‖. From those
definitions, it can be seen that there is always a particular subject that the words
belong to. Also, they are special linguistic units in specialized fields of human
knowledge, as Nguyen (1976) clarifies ―Terminology is a word or combination of
words that is used in science, technology, politics, art... and it has a specific meaning,
denotes precise concepts and names of the above-mentioned scientific areas‖
2.2.

Main characteristics of terminology

As a special unit in the lexical system of language, terminology has its own
distinctive features, these are: accuracy, systematicality, internationality, nationality
and popularity.
2.2.1. Accuracy
A concept represented a term must be clear and exact. In addition, an accurate
term should not make the reader misunderstand the concept it expresses with another.
Actually the accuracy of terminology is well recognized in both its form and meaning.
Sharing this idea, Luu (1977) claimed that each linguistic signal poses one basic
nuclear meaning and vice versa a concept also has a typical linguistic signal in a
concrete situation.

9


As regards the lexical meaning of words, normal words often bear the
characteristics of polysemy and synonym, whereas terminology must avoid this. The
semantics of ordinary words may change in different usage and contexts while that of
terminology is fixed in specialized fields it is employed in.

For instance, a normal and simple verb like "bear" in general language has up to
twelve shades of meanings when used in different circumstances. However, the term
"arbitrage" in business is taken for one single meaning "the practice of buying
something in one place and selling it in another place where the price is higher ".
With respect to the accuracy of terminology in terms of form, terminology has no
other form or outer cover other than its original one. We can hardly add any factors
like prefix, suffix, etc. to a term to refer to the plural form, antonyms, or any change
in word meaning. For example, the financial word "collateral" which means ―property
and something valuable that you promise to give to somebody if you cannot pay back
money that you borrow‖ does not allow any transformation to its form. However,
considering systematicality (that will be further discussed in the next part), the form
of a term could be changed, but in a special way.
2.2.2. Systematicality
Language as well as other fields of science has its own system. As an element of
language, terminology must have the systematicality. A system of terms not only
meets general requirements but also satisfy particular ones posed by certain
specialized it reflects. This means the semantic value of terms is determined by their
close relation to each other and reflects a system of concepts of the same subject, thus
when separated from its system, the term would convey an ambiguous meaning.
Therefore, systematicality is seen as one of the most crucial characteristics of
terminology. For example, "commodity" in daily formal writing means "a thing that is
useful or has a useful quality", while in business is defined as "a product or a raw
material that can be bought and sold". The systematicality also requires a term itself to
be systematic in its own concept. To this end, terms are usually short in form.
Additionally, in the system of economic terminology suffixes –er, -or, -ee are used to
indicate people, hence there are arbitrager, auditor, refugee.

10

2.2.3. Internationality
As the steady pace of globalization has speeded the use of terminology, it
becomes internationalized in both form and meaning. The development and scientific
exchanges among countries allow terminology to be used widely in different
languages so that the international science will make great progress.
With respect to such characteristics of terminology in terms of meaning,
terminology represents prevalent scientific concepts shared and equally understood by
speakers of different countries. This feature is an important property that helps
distinguish terminology from other layers of vocabulary such as slang, dialect, etc.
Terms denote universal concepts of a particular subject, while normal lexical items
are confined to several limits of expression, context, and culture differences.
The form of terms also indicates the internationality. It is notable that many terms
used by different countries have similar phonetic form.
For example:
The similarities in form of terms are mostly due to that various terms in scientific
subjects are often originated from Latin and Greek languages, meanwhile Vietnamese
and Eastern Asian countries have terms based on Chinese-rooted words. Acronyms
also represent the internationality of terms. They are universally used and easy to
remember to people having background on particular subjects in the world.
For instance, in business,

ER stands for ―annual equivalent rate‖, AGM stands

for ―annual general meeting‖ or PR stands for ―annual percentage rate‖.
2.2.4. Nationality
ccording to Hoang (2007), ―the term should be appropriate to Vietnamese
people from the lexicology to the grammatical composition‖ It is the national cultures
and characteristics of a language that define the nationality of terminology. Sharing
this idea, Nguyen (1995) states that terms are specific words which belong to a
particular subject field but they are also a part of language system of a nation.

Terminology which is made from a nation‘s language material and reflects that
nation‘s language features is regarded as belong to that country.
2.2.5. Popularity
Terminology as well as other elements of language is a means of communication
which conveys opinions and feelings among people. It is common knowledge that a
term should be comprehensive and understandable to all speakers. This means

11


terminology is targeted to not only professionals and experts but also other kinds of
reader. Therefore it must be comprehensible to all people in its ways of reading,
writing, speaking and memorizing. For example, ATM is an economic term standing
for ―automatic telling machine‖. It is clearly seen that the term

TM is universally

used and easy to remember.
These above-mentioned are the common features of terminology, and economic
terms bear all of them. Those are the background knowledge for more specific study
on economic terms‘ linguistic features.
2.3.

The distinction between terms and words

In terminology, the ―term‖ is the meaning unit made up of one single word
(simple term) or several words (complex term) and represents a concept in an
univocal way in a specific semantic field (Office of the French Language of Quebec).
From this definition, it is understandable that a term is a specialized word in relation
to its meaning and the field in which it is used.

The border line between word and term is drawn by the use of the lexical unit in a
specialised field of knowledge with a specialised meaning or not. That is why a
certain level of specialised knowledge is needed to recognise a term. In order to study
the limit between term and word, it is important to know the features of terms in a
specialised language. Baker (1998) concludes that ―Terms differ from words in that
they are endowed with a special form of reference, namely that they refer to discrete
conceptual entities, properties, activities or relations which constitute the knowledge
space of a particular subject field‖. Once placed in a particular context, a term‘s
meaning is closely related to other terms in its system. This mean terminology only
functions in a specific reference, while words function in general reference or a
variety of subject fields.
However, the distinction between terms and words is not always a clear cut, as
many terms become ordinary words when they are close to daily life and used with
high frequency, and several words become terms when they are used in specialized
subjects.
2.4.

Structure of term

Economic terms can be categorized into two groups according to their
grammatical compositions including one-word terms and above-word-level terms.
2.4.1. One-word terms and neologisms

12


2.4.1.1.

One-word terms in the form of verb

This kind of term has a typical feature which is changeability, meaning
terminology can appear either in the form of a verb or a noun at different position in
the same text or sentence to avoid repetition.
For instance: ―We negotiate a great deal – more than we realize. Sometimes it
goes smoothly, sometimes it seems difficult. While there is much advice about how to
negotiate and be a ‗winning negotiator‘, the actual experience does not seem as
straightforward as books suggest. Why? Because negotiation is a complex process.
This book grapples with these complexities while recognizing the idiosyncrasies of
both the negotiation process and the negotiator‖. (Effective negotiation: From
research to results 2009)
Most of these one-verb terms have their nouns to be used as alternatives, for
example: appraise – appraisal, arbitrage – arbitrageur, commit – commitment,
condemnation – condemn, confirm – confirmation etc.
Another particular feature of these verbs is that each verb usually goes with one or
two certain nouns in their collocations such as: earn money, make a fortune, acquire
wealth, get a pension, spend money etc.
2.4.1.2.

One-word terms in the form of noun

Terms which appear in the form of noun are various including nouns derived from
verbs mentioned above. For instance: contractor, delivery, depression, distribution,
earnings etc.
2.4.1.3.

Eponyms derived from the names of economists

An eponym is a person (real or fictitious) from whom something is said to take its
name. The word is back-formed from "eponymous", from the Greek "eponymos"
meaning "giving name". It is clearly seen that there are various terms which designate

economic theory such as economic laws, models and taxation etc. such as Okun's
Law, Engel's Law, or the Phillips Curve etc.
2.4.1.4.

Economic acronyms

Technically, acronyms are created by combining some parts (usually the initial
letters) of some other terms. Economic acronyms investigated including two types.


The first one is acronyms for international institutions such as ‗ SE N‘
( ssociation

of

South

East

13

sian

Nations),

‗ISO‘

(International

Organization for Standardization), ‗WTO‘ (World Trade Organization)
etc.


The second type is acronyms formed within special topic and designate
process, for example: ‗

GR‘ ( verage

( ccess and Benefit Sharing), ‗
(African-Caribbean-Pacific

Group),

s‘ ( ir

nnual Growth Rate), ‗ BS‘
argo

omplexes), ‗

P‘

‗ D ‘ ( nti-Dumping Agreement)

etc.
2.4.2. Above-word-level terms
Technical or scientific terms as well as economic terms in particular are normally
created by compounding.
2.4.2.1.

Nominal group

According to Mark Halliday (1985), the Nominal Group structure contains the
Thing (head noun), preceded by various items including Deitic, Numerative, Epithet
and Classifier and followed by Qualifier:


Deitic: The deictic element indicates whether or not some specific subset
of the Thing is intended with such specific words as this, these, that, those,
my, your, her... or non-specific like a, an, each, all, every, etc. For
instance, these innocent purchasers, all sales contracts, etc.



Numerative: The numerative element shows some numerical feature of the
subset either quantity (one, two, three...), or order (first, second, third...),
either exact (one, two, three...) or in exact (few, little, several...) like
second mortgage, first option, first entry...



Epithet: The epithet indicates some quality of the subset. This may be an
objective property of the thing itself or it may be an expression of the
speaker‘s subjective attitude towards it, for instance: initial investment,
future goods etc.



Classifier: The classifier indicates a particular subclass of the thing in

question; it can be an adjective or a noun. For instance, sales contract,
sales agreement, preference capital, business transaction etc.



Thing: The thing is the semantic core of the nominal group, which may be
common noun, proper noun, or personal noun. For example



Qualifier: The qualifier follows the thing and characterizes it. The qualifier
can be a relative clause or a prepositional phrase. For instance

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2.4.2.2.

Economic above-word-level terms in the form of nominal group

Based on the classification mentioned above, the economic terms investigated
might be classified in the form of nominal group with their sub-classes as follows:
a. Classifier (Noun) + Thing
This group of compounds Noun + Noun consisting of two nouns of which the first
noun functions as classifier and helps to distinguish the second noun from the other
concepts of the same group.
b. Classifier (Adjective) + Thing
The compounds Adjective + Noun consists of an Adjective and a Noun of which
Adjective functions as Classifier and the head Noun (thing), combining together are
the most frequently used in the form of nominal group.

c. Classifier/Epithet (Present Participle) + Thing
In the group of compounding V-ing + Noun, V-ing sometimes functions as
Classifier as in floating capital which means the capital that floats. In some other case,
V-ing functions as Epithet as in shopping goods.
d. Classifier/Epithet (Past Participle) + Thing
In this group of Compound, similar to the group of compound in (c), sometimes
V-ed functions as Classifier as in affiliated company which means that company
wholly or partly owned by another company, but in some other cases V-ed functions
as Epithet as in balanced budget which means a financial plan in which expenses
exactly equal income.
e. Thing + Qualifier
Most of the investigated Qualifiers are prepositional phrases; therefore this group
of compound combines Noun + Preposition + Noun as in the following examples:
Wall of money: A large amount of money ready to be invested on the stock market
3. Related studies
Although in Vietnam there are not many researchers having great attention to the
linguistic features of business negotiation language, the writer was still inspired by
several recent research papers that involve investigating the linguistic features of
international trade negotiation conversation in English and Vietnamese such as
Nguyen Xuan Thom (2001) with the paper ―Phát ngôn như là đơn vị giao tiếp trong
đàm phán thương mại quốc tế” and Quach Quang Trung (2013) with the study “A

15


study on linguistic features of business negotiation conversations in English and
Vietnamese”.
While Nguyen (2001) gave a new theoretical framework, considered negotiating
discourse on both the macro level (the interaction with context) and micro level
(internal organization of discourse), taking account of the professional and cultural

characteristics of characters and object in communication, Quach (2013) merely
revealed similarities and differences in business negotiation conversations‘ linguistic
features between English and Vietnamese. On the other hand, in his paper, Quach
(2013) did give an insight into speech acts of request, giving and receiving
compliments, promising and addressing terms, and so on. However, the scale of the
study was small as only focused on speech acts and furthermore, Quach (2013) did
not mention any grammatical aspect in his research.
For those limitations of some related studies, the researcher came up with the
decision to conduct this paper in order to bring more detailed analysis on the
characteristics and grammatical structures of English business terminology used in
negotiation.

16


CHAPTER III - METHODOLOGY
This chapter describes the way the research is conducted, including the research
settings, participants, instruments of the research as well as the procedure employed
to carry out data analysis to complete the ultimate purpose – answer the two research
questions.
This research aims to finding out the similarities and differences in the linguistic
features of collected modals. A descriptive method is used to describe the business
terms in the two languages. The quantitative and qualitative methods are resorted to
analyzing the data collected. Then a statistical analysis is conducted to find out the
characteristics of Economics terminology in negotiation in terms of aspects
mentioned in the aims and objectives.
1. Participants
This study is a kind of secondary research that data of research are available and
already published. The researcher tried to collect qualitative data from reliable
sources. The data will be mainly collected from 30 samples of business negotiations

in English from books and the Internet. For data from books, the researcher mainly
employed conversations in transcripts of listening parts from English books for
students learning business such as Market Leader, English for Business, English for
Business

Communication,

English

for

International

Negotiations

etc.

Other

conversations from the Internet related to business. However, due to the confidentially
of authentic business negotiation conversations, the number of data in these sources
was limited.
Criteria for selecting conversations are:


Conversations should be 3-4 sentences or more in length and be placed in a
specific context.



Conversations that simply introduce simple greeting or introducing are not
selected.



The selected conversations should contain certain functions and clear purposes
related to business.

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