WHAT’S HAPPENING TO BUSINESS COMMUNICATION IN THE EMAIL ENVIRONMENT?
A STUDY OF SOME LINGUISTIC FEATURES OF EMAIL MESSAGING IN NEW ZEALAND
Jane Holst-Larkin
School of Communication Studies
Manukau Institute of Technology
Abstract: Email messaging today replaces to a large extent other forms of business communication. Analysts are identifying a new use of language brought about by email and other forms of computer mediated communication, and researchers debate whether the new form is closer to speech or to writing. This study examines the linguistic features of eighty email messages from one organisation in New Zealand, and compares these with reports from overseas research.The evidence points to at least a blurring of genres (spoken and written), if not to the beginnings of a new genre of language in email messaging in the New Zealand business context. While this new use of language inherits many of the advantages of both spoken and written language, there is no doubt that each genre also contributes a legacy of disadvantages which may complicate or impede the communication process when email is used.Recommendations are made to counter some of these adverse effects. However, the study points to a mostly positive and productive use of email messaging in New Zealand.
Keywords: Email, business communication, language, writing
Background
The rise and rise of email messaging
In the last few decades, email has become an international medium of communication, replacing to a large extent letters, long-distance telephone calls, internal and inter-office memos and face-to-face meetings. An estimated76.8 billion corporate emails per day were being sent worldwide by the end of 2004 (Radicati Group, 2004).What are the effects of this spectacular rate of adoption of a new form of messaging? Granted, it is simplyyet another form of written message, which can be turned into hard copy, where it is scarcely different from the traditional memo. Yet this new messaging medium appears to be changing the way we communicate in business. Overseas research demonstrates changes in language attributable to the email form, and researchers claim that since the advent of email, and even more particularly since text messaging, a quiet revolution has been taking place.
There have, of course, been revolutions in communication before. Written culture superseded oral culture in all developing societies, bringing with it the ability to contact people at a distance, and to leave a permanent record. Later, another revolution in technology brought the print age, which allowed dissemination of written material and led to a standardisation of written language and spelling. However, the electronic capacities of computer-mediated communication (CMC), of which email is just one form, conveys advantages way beyond the scope of these traditional forms of written communication. In both speed and ease of dissemination, CMC communication generally outstrips other media (although the postal service in London at the end of the nineteenth century claimed to be able to deliver within London in less than an hour) (Hauser, Chomsky & Fitch, 2002).
How the medium affects the message
Recipients of the email message, particularly in the context of the workplace, report frustration with the informality of email messaging, which can lead to ambiguity, incomplete information, inappropriate tone and irritating errors in language and punctuation. In short, all the most complained about features of poor written communication (Myhre, 1998) are even more likely to occur in email messaging as a consequence of its speed and informality (Holst-Larkin, 2001).According to Baron (1998) technology alone is not responsible for what is an increasingly oral approach to written communication in our time. However, it is clear that technological change today ranks with the other forces which have traditionally impacted on language change: population shifts, natural barriers, invasions and socio-economic factors (Du Bartell, 1995).
In the case of computer technology, the impact on language has been so great as to warrant the terms ‘computer-mediated communication’ and ‘electronic discourse’. The speed of the medium of transmission is behind much of its impact. Email communicators may discuss topics asynchronically or take turns in instant messaging (Jonsson, 1998). If two people are logged on at the same time, the instant messaging service can allow for synchronous dialogue. More commonly, though, the communication is asynchronous, with the time delay reaching from minutes to months. This, in itself, can be a disturbing barrier to effective communication.
With speed is associated a certain casualness or informality. Once logged on, communication by email is easy, not requiring the number of steps or the formality of traditional mail. Ease of communication has lead to an ‘open doors’ policy: email users can have direct access to the computer of anyone whose email address they know or can find. Distance, whether geographic or social, is no longer an impediment. The ease, frequency and rapidity with which communication can take place by email leads to its informality and spontaneity. Not only is messaging by email easy, it is also fun – an aspect much overlooked in the literature. This leads to greater confidence among email writers. A clean design and finished product can be effortlessly achieved by everyone, and instant fingertip control is a seductive aid to writing and publishing.
Speed and ease of transmission have other flow-on effects. The rapidity of typing attempted by those not formally trained in keyboard skills, combined with a lack of editorial revision mean there are frequent misspellings, whatever the educational background of the sender (Crystal, 2001). Even though spellchecking is increasingly offered by messaging software, many writers, according to Baron (1998) ignore this opportunity. The real issue according to Baron, is one of motivation. Quite simply, why bother?
The apparent ease of deleting old messages also lends an air of casualness to the email form. This seeming lack of permanence mimics the easy, ephemeral nature of conversation.
The end result – is it quality communication?
The bland, impersonal form and appearance of the email would suggest that it is a medium which does not favour good interpersonal communication. However, Walther (1996) argues that these and other computer-mediated exchanges can achieve ‘hyperpersonal communication’.This perspective views users as able to exploit the characteristics of computer-mediated communication (CMC), and shape their interactions in such positive ways that communication can be effectively manipulated. Using text-based communication, users selectively self-present themselves, concentrating on purposeful message construction and eliminating the role of involuntary nonverbal appearance and behaviour features from interaction. When messaging within an organization or to an email list, users can magnify their sense of the similarity and desirability of others, becoming more friendly and attractive throughout. Research supports this model.Studies on perceptions of attractiveness, for example, found that in conditions in which they could not see each other, participants thought their partners were more attractive (Walther, 1997).
On the other hand, research by the British Psychological Society indicates that focussing on themselves leads writers of email to have less concern about the impact of their message on others, and so to be more inclined to self-disclose. This revealing of self in words may be an attempt to compensate for the lack of body language (MeMail, 2001). Attempts are often made to compensate for the lack of nonverbal cues by using idiosyncratic punctuation and emoticons, but misunderstandings due to a lack of nonverbal cues will still arise. This may lead to perceived problems of tone, or in some cases ‘flaming’, or abusive communication (Atkinson, 2002). The email environment has been shown to encourage lowering of inhibitions, both in the form of excessive self-disclosure and abusive styles of communicating (White, 2005). In a study of an email discussion group in New Zealand, Barnett (2003) noted that confrontation was common, with the result that some participants (especially female) were deterred from contributing further to discussions.
How do we distinguish speech from writing, anyway?
This question is not easily answered. Baron (1998) describes three schools of thought on the differences between speech and writing. One sets out the distinctive features of each genre (e.g. writing is more formal than speech, which is ephemeral, while writing is durable). A second school, which includes Tannen (1982), argues that these discrete lists of features are inaccurate – that for instance some speeches may be more formal than some writing. A third school focuses on the ethnographic conditions which lead to linguistic choices in both speech and writing in different societies.
However, intuitively we can agree that usually spoken language has many of the characteristics of a written ‘first draft’, with its repetitions, false starts and repairs and non-standard grammar. Spoken dialogue is synchronous, occurring in real time, and will show evidence of interruptions and overlaps, as well as various intonation and other non-verbal cues.
How electronic discourse differs from conversation
Email will never replicate real conversation. For a start, it is usually asynchronous. Along with that is the ability to ‘prepare’ and adjust thoughts and ideas before uttering. In face-to-face conversation, participants may not have at their disposal all the relevant information during a specific conversation. Online, however, because the conversation does not continue until the participants are ready, there is no apparent interruption while one searches for external information. If the writer gives the appropriate attention, content can be made quite dense, with less time wasted than in an oral exchange. Information can be corrected and presentation adjusted until the required effect is achieved. The resulting content is also,by Biber’s (1988) definition, more integrated, meaning that a large amount of information tends to be packed into relatively few words. Recipients, equally, are able to digest this information at their preferred speed.
With email, turn taking is more delineated. Interruptions and overlaps are not possible in the ways that characterise normal conversation. Even when the emails overlap, each message arrives and can be read – no one is ‘shouted down’. Participants in email discussion can take their time to prepare their contributions, which better suits some personality types who can otherwise be disadvantaged in meetings.
Utterances are easily archived when email is used(Davis & Brewer, 1997), and this has many implications in the business context. In contrast, conversations, usually unrecorded, are less able to be accurately reproduced at a later date.
According to Walther & Boyd (2002), email users can hide personal traits that would be more easily detected through conversation. When communicating electronically, one does not have to adjust one’s smile or pull in one’s tummy muscles! On the other hand, the absence of distracting nonverbal clues may give added focus to the message. This process begins with formality of the From-To-Date-Subject fields, which ensure that certain relevant information is available upfront.
The conversational elements of email
Despite the fact that email is unquestionably a written medium, the technology, associated as it is with the telephone, leads the writer to use many conversational features.Whether face-to-face or mediated by technology, the conversational approach generally takes account of the audience to a greater extent, and recognises the interpersonal nature of the communication. Even though the email is modelled on the memo, users tend to adapt the medium to a more conversational style.
To begin with, although the email promotes the efficient memo introduction system described above, a surprising number of writers still greet their reader and identify themselves again while signing off. A direct opening address is very popular, though made redundant by the email message format. The presence or absence of a greeting is described by Crystal (2001) as a ‘+Dear or –Dear’ opening. According to Crystal’s definition, the location of the greeting may vary. In Crystal’s corpus, +Dear openings were most often spaced and on a separate line, as in letters. In the case of –Dear openings, the name was still often present on the first line, either as Thanks, David, or Thanks for your message, David. Insertion of the name later in the message was described as ‘rapport renewal’, as in Sorry to put you to this bother, David, but . . . (Crystal, 2001).A study by Mallon & Oppenheim (2002) reports that although the sample of business emails was lucid, writers often dispensed with traditions when opening their email, and their closings were informal.
Other features of ‘involvement’ as described by Biber (1988) are favoured in email, such as direct questions to the reader, and other forms of acknowledging the person-to-person nature of the exchange (as opposed to purely delivering information). This more personal approach of the email message approximates the closeness of conversation.
Although the process of producing an email allows for editing, the typical message can lack careful word choice. Overseas research indicates that email typically displays a more relaxed tone, and encourages humour even when communicating with relative strangers. The email message often represents a stream of thought in writing (Baron, 1997).To emulate the dialogue achievable by conversation, email allows for the buildingof coherence and mutually constructed meaning through the use of threads and quoting previous messages (sometimes automatically) enabling subsequent participants to add comments (Walther & Boyd, 2002). In this way, email can seem very close to synchronous conversation. However, too much cross-posting is discouraged as it wastes bandwidth (Jonsson, 1998).
Ochs (1983), cited in Gimenez (2000), notes four characteristics of ‘unplanned spoken discourse’ which distinguish it from the more planned written message:
1)a reliance on immediate context to express semantic relations, including heavy reliance on demonstrative modifiers;
2)use of simple morphosyntactic structures such as shorter sentences, co-ordinated rather than subordinated sentences, and present tense with active verb forms;
3)repetition and replacing of lexical items;
4)and reliance on certain patterns of language features. According to Gimenez (2000), these features are commonly found in email communication. They include frequent use of elliptical forms (such as ‘if interested, notify us . . .’) and existential ‘there’ (as in ‘And then there’s this problem of . . .’) and novel abbreviations – all indicative of an informal register.
Slang, non-standard grammatical constructions, false starts, hesitations and sudden topic changes are all well documented features of conversation, all of which can be found in email.
As with conversation, email exchanges are relatively informal, short and rapid. A local example of informality from a relatively high-level source was an email from a private secretary in the New Zealand Government Ministry of Corrections(Mold, 2002). The office had received a request from another MP for a copy of a prison inmate’s file. The private secretary’s emailed plea for help read:
<Eeek!!! How should I respond?
But is it a whole new genre?
Much has been written about the new features of language encouraged and enabled by email technology. The informality of the medium promotes new tricks in typography: caps (for amplitude of tone, (Jonsson, 1998)), emoticons and idiosyncratic punctuation which would beunacceptable in more standard written business communication.
A language of acronyms is developing (CNET, 1997): Y? C U later (or even CUL8R); BTW or btw (by the way), and is a language which is further fuelled by text messaging. The new technologies appear to encourage their users to be inventive with language.Even the Concise Oxford Dictionary has accepted some of these terms and included them for definition (McKie, 2001). These new features of writing permissible in email may point to the emergence of a new genre.
A study of email in an educational institute
To ascertain the extent to which business email messaging in New Zealand has become ‘conversationalised’, and to note current trends in emailed business writing, a sample of 80 email messages was studied. All departments at Manukau Institute of Technology were invited to contribute, including lecturers (delivering a range of courses from trades to degree courses), and all support staff: IT support, PR, marketing and administrative offices. Institute staff were asked if they would like to participate in the study by sending a sample of between one - three very recent emails they had written. This was an attempt to encourage a random sample, while, for ethical considerations, allowing participants to select emails which did not reveal personal, sensitive or otherwise inappropriate information. However, the ethical requirement for participants to select their own contributions to the study may have led to a certain amount of self-consciousness, which would impinge on validity.
Between 17 March 2003 and 12 April 2003, 79 staff members volunteered a total of 127 messages. It was decided to select only on - the first message - received from each. The author also supplied a message to the sample. The 80 email messages contributed were then examined for the linguistic features discussed above, and particularly for direct address, informality/colloquialism, evidence of personal or hyperpersonal elements in communication,humour, non-standard typographical features, and lack of revision.
Direct address: Greeting and signing off
Forty-eight percent of these business messages had no salutation, and so followed the memo style. However, just over ninety-six percent contained a sign-off message. Over half of these contained automatic signatures.The remainder were signed off by name alone, or by name prefaced by Regards or Cheers. One signed with the Maori Na plus name. Many who did not offer a greeting still felt it necessary to sign off, even though their name was in the header as ‘sender’.
Hi plus name was by far the most popular greeting, followed by other combinations such as simplyHi or Hi everyone. There was only one instance of Dear plus name. This is in contrast to the findings of researchers from other English speaking countries, who have found Dear Mr X a common salutation (Crystal, 2001). First names were used in every instance here, attesting to the greater informality of business communication style in New Zealand. The format of the greeting was equally distributed between those placing the salutation on a separate line, and those on the same line. Five samples used a Maori greeting – three usingKia ora plus name, one Tena koutou, and oneKia ora koutou katoa.