Linguistic Features of Electronic Mail in the Workplace: A Comparison with Memoranda

Abstract

Email is increasingly replacing many of the functions of workplace memoranda. This study analyzed the linguistic features of email and written memoranda in an academic workplace, a university department in Australia. Ten subjects contributed email and also completed a questionnaire via email on their use of email. The subjects’ email was compared to a sample of memoranda provided by two subjects from the same department. The email sample differed markedly from the memoranda in containing more structural reductions, expressive features, greeting and leave-taking formulas, and instances of linguistic innovation. It is argued that: 1) linguistic economy in email is tempered by the need to maintain social (phatic) contact between users; 2) email style tends to be less formal than other varieties of written workplace communication; and 3) email contains features traditionally considered ‘oral.’