The USA Journals Volume 03 Issue 04-2021
138
The American Journal of Political Science Law and Criminology
(ISSN
–
2693-0803)
Published:
April 30, 2021 |
Pages:
138-144
Doi:
https://doi.org/10.37547/tajpslc/Volume03Issue04-21
I
MPACT
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2021:
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‘
ABSTRACT
This article states the importance of correspondence as means of conveying academic, professional,
business, or consumer interests. Furthermore, the letters, their types, structure are presented, and
the comparative analysis of the world scholars’ classification of letters due to means, content,
structure, purpose are reviewed. Moreover, the special features of legal letters and documents are
highlighted.
KEYWORDS
Correspondence, letters, formal letters, legal letters, document, content, purpose, structure, means.
INTRODUCTION
Even in the age of sophisticated technology
and
electronic
communications,
correspondence is no less important than ever.
We still make extensive use of letters as a
means of conveying academic, professional,
business, or consumer interests. Our letters
Correspondence Specifics: Official And Legal Letters
Karimova Durdona Farxodovna
Specialized Branch Of Tashkent State University Of Law, Uzbekistan
Journal
Website:
http://usajournalshub.c
om/index,php/tajpslc
Copyright:
Original
content from this work
may be used under the
terms of the creative
commons
attributes
4.0 licence.
The USA Journals Volume 03 Issue 04-2021
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The American Journal of Political Science Law and Criminology
(ISSN
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2693-0803)
Published:
April 30, 2021 |
Pages:
138-144
Doi:
https://doi.org/10.37547/tajpslc/Volume03Issue04-21
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often express their views, make choices or give
orders, ask, complain, request and report.
Thus, over the years, the concept of
correspondence has always been a key
component of social, scientific, and business
agreements for the following purposes: the
main function of letters is to bridge
communication gaps between two or more
parties, as well as to raise awareness or
awareness, one of the best ways to express
their feelings, as a personal and professional
memoir or note that can be stored in the
recipient for years. While language is the most
important means of communication between
people, a tool for messaging ideas to others
1
,
letters have been serving to this target point in
social,
economic,
political,
educational,
medical and cultural exchanges.
Letters are divided into three types: formal,
informal, and semi-formal. The official letter is
written using an official language and
structured format, which is commonly used in
workplaces, enterprises and government
offices. An informal letter is used when writing
to our friends and relatives. This type of letter
is mostly written for personal communication.
A semi-formal letter is written to someone you
know well, including to address someone in a
business relationship, such as an office
assistant, counselor, teacher, or your child’s
mentor.
We will discuss in detail the official letters, their
types and structure. These letters are written
for purposes such as discussing business,
applying for services, sending inquiries, writing
complaints, or registering. The rationale and
categorization of these letters depends on the
1
Farxodovna, D. K. (2020). Basic Concepts Of
Linguocultural Studies. The American Journal of
Social Science and Education Innovations, 2(09), 405-
topic, meaning, and context discussed in the
letters. These letters need to be short, clear
and concise.
There are several types of formal letters, such
as business letters, applications for admission
(for college or university), applications for
employment, applications for grants and
scholarships. These letters require a formal
style, correct choice of words, appropriate
sentence structure, and proper punctuation.
As for the structure, the letter is a combination
of different elements that can vary depending
on the property. The main elements of the
letter are:
1.
Sender’s address
2.
Date
3.
Name / position of the recipient
4.
Address of the recipient
5.
Greetings
6.
Subject
7.
The main part - introduction, content,
conclusion
8.
Closure
9.
Signature / Sender’s Name
10.
Sender's position
Let’s look at some types of official letters,
basically all of them are written based on a
similar structure. However, these messages
differ from each other in terms of the
information and content entered.
Inquiry letters. These letters are designed to
ask for more information about the product or
service. We need to be clear about what
information we are looking for. We may also
409.
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62
The USA Journals Volume 03 Issue 04-2021
140
The American Journal of Political Science Law and Criminology
(ISSN
–
2693-0803)
Published:
April 30, 2021 |
Pages:
138-144
Doi:
https://doi.org/10.37547/tajpslc/Volume03Issue04-21
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2021:
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952
request additional information in the form of
catalogs and brochures.
Sales letters. They are used to advertise new
products and services. It should clearly state
the benefits of using the specific product that
the company wants to promote. The sales
letter highlights an important problem and
then explains how to solve this problem using
the product being promoted.
Confirmation letter. This letter is written when
you want to accept a job, gift, invitation,
congratulations, resignation, and so on.
Usually, we accept a job or gift orally, when in
fact it is wise to formally accept the offer
through a confirmation letter.
A letter in response to a request letter. This is a
letter we need to write often. Customers who
send inquiries about our products or services
are definitely interested in buying them. When
answering these questions, we need to provide
as much information as possible. Our response
should call the customer. This could be
subscribing to a service we provide or
purchasing a product we offer.
Letter of claim. We are not always satisfied
with the quality of the product or service we
purchase. In this case, we will have to file a
counterclaim regarding unsatisfactory service
or product quality. The letter of claim must
clearly express our dissatisfaction. It also
makes it clear exactly what we want as a
solution.
Reply to the letter of claim. The company may
offer the best products and services to the
plaintiff in order to settle the claim. These
types of emails address and provide solutions
2
Poe, F. W. (1993). McGraw-Hill Handbook of
Business Letter Writing. New York; McGraw-Hill.
to specific problems and requests from
dissatisfied customers.
Letters of apology. Letters of apology for work
are aimed at apologizing for inconvenience or
misunderstanding.
Cover letter. This letter is a letter that is sent
along with our reference when we apply for a
job, government grants or scholarships. This
letter highlights our creative, scientific, or
professional accomplishments.
Recommendation. This is to write a letter to
recommend someone for a grant / scholarship
/ vacancy indicating the person’s strengths and
achievements. When writing a letter, we need
to link a person’s skills and abilities to a specific
job / grant / scholarship. In short, official letters
are an integral part of our personal, academic
and professional lives.
In the US system, official correspondence is
divided into 5 types: internal correspondence,
external correspondence, trade or commercial
correspondence, personal correspondence,
and circular correspondence
2
.
Let us consider legal letters, which are a type of
official letter. A letter is a written text, a piece
of paper sent to inform someone. It is also an
official document. By legal letter we mean any
text prepared by a lawyer and having a legal
content. These texts range from a half-page
business letter to a one-hundred-page
memorandum or legal conclusion, a draft
agreement or bill, and a procedural document
to be submitted. The concepts of “legal letter”
and “document” are interrelated. The word
“document” has several meanings, each of
which is associated to some extent with legal
The USA Journals Volume 03 Issue 04-2021
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The American Journal of Political Science Law and Criminology
(ISSN
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April 30, 2021 |
Pages:
138-144
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letters. When referring to a text of legal
content and prepared by a lawyer, the words
“document” and “legal letter” are used
interchangeably. In addition, in automated
information retrieval systems, a document is
understood as any object entered into the
system memory. Accordingly, when discussing
the concept of a legal letter or legal document,
we consider not only the text that has the legal
force created on paper by the lawyer, but also
the text that is available in electronic form.
There are different classifications of types of
legal letters, and these types differ according
to the content and purpose of the letters.
According to M.Monipally, the purpose of the
document can be as follows
3
:
1) Problem analysis;
2) Dispute;
3) Regulation or management.
The first type of legal letter can be called
analytical. A key feature of analytical legal
letters is a neutral analysis of the legal situation
or problem. Analytical legal letters mainly
include letters to clients, memoranda, legal
conclusions, analytical materials, articles in
legal journals, monographs.
The second type of legal letter is a text in which
a certain position is defended, the interests of
one of the parties are protected. Here, it is very
important to convince the addressee of their
correctness, the correctness of the position of
the author of the text (or the person indicated
by the author of the text). A key component of
such a legal letter is disputes on a particular
issue. Most of these documents are
procedural. However, this type includes not
3
Monippally, .M. M. (1997). The Craft of Business
Letter Writing. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill.
only documents filed to the court or arbitration
court, but also letters, petitions, applications
sent to the executive authorities. Therefore,
such a legal letter can be conditionally called an
argument.
Legal letters are often of an analytical and
factual nature. For example, this part of a
procedural document that includes a legal
problem analysis may generally refer to an
analytical legal letter. Also, the legal opinion in
the part that contains the argument of a
particular
position,
substantiating
the
approach to the problem from a certain point
of view, is an example of an argumentative
legal text.
The third type of legal letter, far from the
previous two in terms of legal writing rules,
consists of property rights documents (e.g.,
regulatory documents of a legal entity),
contracts, and regulations. The purpose of
these documents is to regulate existing or
emerging legal relationships.
The style of legal correspondence is the right
choice of these linguistic means. At this point,
it is worth remembering the definition by an
English writer Jonathan Swift ‘Style is the right
words in the right place’. But choosing the right
words and applying them in the text where
needed is a matter of observation. Sometimes
the language is compared to clothes: each
specific situation has its own style of dress, and
no one comes to the official event in old
clothes ... ", - said K.Chukovsky, meaningful
completeness is required.
Legal correspondence is a type of official
correspondence
that
has
its
own
characteristics, its own technique. Also, each
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type of legal letter - legal summary, bill,
contract, etc. - has its own characteristics and
techniques. One of the most important
requirements for the text of legal letters is
impartiality. Legal letters and documents must
impartially reflect information as official
written means of expressing and recording
formal relationships. Therefore, there are
certain restrictions on the use of words and
word forms in the language of legal letters,
including those that serve to express figurative
thinking such as high solemnity, rude words,
rhetorical words, metaphors, metonymy,
simile, personification, exaggeration and etc.
The use of such stylistic devices leads to
inaccuracy of expression in the text of legal
letters.
The classification system of official letters does
not have stable criteria and is thus
distinguished by different bases and directions.
This is because official letters are the object of
study in various fields of science, business and
commerce. Mainly official correspondence is
carried out on the basis of documentation and
office
work
(M.I.Basakov,
M.V.Vasiliev,
M.V.Kirsanova, I.N.Kuznetsov, T.M.Lagutina,
A.S. Matveva, M.Y.Rojojin and others) as well
as
linguistics
and
cultural
lectures
(L.A.Vvedenskaya, L.G.Pavlova, P.V.Veselov,
M.V.Koltunova, S.P.Kushneruk and others).
Document types differ according to a number
of factors, which can be classified as follows
4
:
4
Басаков М.И. Делопроизводство: конспект
лекций. – Ростов-на-Дону: Изд-во «Феникс», 2006.
– p.84-85.
Веселов П.В. Современное деловое письмо в
промышленности. – М.: Изд-во стандартов, 1990.
– p.33-36.
1)
Level of access to information or
openness of the letter: simple, open and
private/confidential letters;
2)
Duration:
emergency
and
non-
emergency;
3)
Size: short, medium and long;
4)
Composition or level of complexity:
simple (one question) and complex (two
or more questions);
5)
Structure:
letters
with
appendix,
additional data-based and formal-logical
text-based;
6)
Type of information: textual and mixed
(tables, questionnaires, graphic texts);
7)
Presentation style: formal and informal;
8)
Complexity: with and without sentences;
9)
Method of addressing: addressed to one
or more persons;
10)
Letter writer: initiator/composer or
respondent;
11)
Internal and external letters;
12)
Level of commitment: informative and
instructive;
13)
Shelf life: permanent and temporary;
14)
Method
of
fixation:
handwritten,
typewritten, typed and e-mails.
M.Y.Rojojin divides official letters into 30 types
depending on their content: 1) inquiry letters;
2) message letters; 3) letters of appeal; 4)
application letters; 5) confirmation letters; 6)
order letters; 7) letters of proposals; 8)
complementary letters; 9) letters of complaint
(claims); 10) information letters; 11) letters of
guarantee; 12) letters of presentation; 13)
Кузнецов И.Н. Делопроизводство: Учеб.-
справочное пособие. – М.: Издательская
корпорация «Дашков и К», 2006. – p.187-188.
Бурова И.А. Деловая речь, деловая переписка:
Учеб. пособие. Ч. 1. – М.: МИИТ, 2010. – p.16-19.
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direct mail; 14) short written messages
(reminder notices, etc.); 15) application letters;
16) congratulatory letters; 17) letters of
invitation; 18) letters of apology; 19) letters of
condolence; 20) letters of presentation; 21) a
letter of departure; 22) letters written to
maintain contacts and relationships; 23) letter
of gratitude; 24) letter of recommendation; 25)
congratulatory letter; 26) letters of negative
nature (letters written to indicate that you
were
not
accepted
for
a
job/university/grant/scholarships; 27) letters
rejecting the offer; 28) postcards; 29) letter
(private/individual); 30) reference or resume
5
.
M.V.Kirsanova, N.N.Anodina, Yu.M.Aksionov
approves the following types of letters: letters
of invitation, letters of request, letters of
invitation for cooperation, letters of request,
letters of thanks, letters of information, letters
of rejection, letters of guarantee
6
.
A.S. Matveeva studies the structure of official
letters and analyzes their content
7
. As a result,
depending on the scope of activity, three main
groups of official letters are distinguished:
official letters, personal letters and written
messages of internal correspondence.
Uzbek scholars M.Aminov, A.Madvaliev,
N.Mahkamov and N.Mahmudov classify official
letters according to their structure as internal
and external; by means as simple and
complicated; by purpose as organizational
5
Рогожин М.Ю. Современное деловое письмо
[пособие]. – М.: ГроссМедиа Ферлаг: РОСБУХ,
2009. – p. 12-13.
6
Кирсанова М.В., Анодина Н.Н., Аксёнов Ю.М.
Деловая переписка [Электронный ресурс]: Учеб.
пособие. – М.: ИНФРА-М, 2006. – p.42-64. – URL:
http://www.litres.ru/mariya-kirsanova/natalya-
anodina/uriy aksenov/ delovaya-perepiska-
uchebnoe-posobie/ (дата обращения: 10.11.2015).
letters, executive letters, informative letter
and service letters
8
.
Considering the classifications presented by
world scholar, we can conclude that the types
of letters can be grouped to a wide range due
to their structure, means and intention.
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1.
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The USA Journals Volume 03 Issue 04-2021
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The American Journal of Political Science Law and Criminology
(ISSN
–
2693-0803)
Published:
April 30, 2021 |
Pages:
138-144
Doi:
https://doi.org/10.37547/tajpslc/Volume03Issue04-21
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2021:
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