ABSTRACT:Polysemy means a word has many different but related meanings, which is a common phenomenon of our daily life. So, it is broadly discussed by many scholars and researchers both at home and abroad. It is a good way of economy that a word with new meanings, which makes it easier for people to remember and settles the problem for expressing. Moreover, with the development of international economy, English business letters are frequently used as well. And the words used in the letters have common meanings and business meanings, which makes polysemy significant in English business letters. Besides, through the international communication, English business letters becomes a bridge of cultural communication. At the same time, different cultures meet together, and the cross-cultural communication has some effects on the phenomenon of polysemy.
This paper generally summarizes the previous studies about polysemy, English business letters and cross-cultural communication, and analyzes polysemy of common lexis in English business letters and analyzes the effects that the cross-cultural communication has on it. Finally, this paper wants to let others know the exact meaning of the word when meeting this phenomenon, then errors could be cut down, and the international economy could be enhanced at last.
Keywords: polysemy English business letters cross- cultural communication
摘要:一词多义指一个词有多种不同而又相关的意思，这种现象普遍存在，并且一直都是国内外专家及学者讨论、研究的重点话题。被赋予新意义的既有词汇既不会让人们因记忆量的增加而苦恼，又解决了表达的问题，这种方法很经济。而随着世界经济交流越来越频繁，英语商务信函的使用也相应的非常的频繁，使用于商务信函中的词汇具备了普通意义和商务意义，这使得一词多义在商务信函中的意义重大。并且通过国际间的交流，商务信函成为了文化交流的桥梁。与此同时，不同的文化相互碰撞，跨文化交际也对一词多义产生了影响。
本文通过对过去关于一词多义、英语商务信函、以及跨文化交际的研究进行简单地总结，并分析英语商务信函中常见词汇的一词多义现象，以及跨文化交际对此现象有的影响，希望能让人在今后遇到此现象能知道某个词的特定用法，从而能够减少错误与误解，促进国际金融交流。
关键词：一词多义 英语商务信函 跨文化交际
