The language of email : a hybrid towards standardization

Abstract EN

As computers have become an integral part in the life of the societies all over the world, people are increasingly using computer technologies including the internet, and particularly the e-mail, to communicate encouraged by the easy access to these technologies and their lower cost.

This, in turn, has led to a growing field of study which is Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) part of which e-mail is expected to be the most familiar and the widely-used mode of communication exchange.

Within the course of its relatively short time of use, e-mail has shaped its (approximately) regular format so far, but its language (English only for the purpose of this paper) has shown irregular manifestations in the message texts.

This study tackles this issue of the characteristics of the language of e-mail including its format as compared to the conventional letter.

It emphasizes the hybrid nature of the English texts of emails which is being under a process of linguistic systemization as an indication that it is on a way of standardization.

Therefore, the scope of the study is limited only to email, and doesn't go beyond studying its language features.

The methodology followed starts with reviewing some topics about email format and language referring to the literature in the field in which the recent writings on the Net provide a major reliable reference to the study.

Then the prevailing characteristics of the language of email are also shown illustrated with examples from random samples of email texts.

Brief citation of the "Netiquette" is necessarily presented, and the appendices of emoticons, acronyms and abbreviations used in email are to support indicating the systemization being processed towards the standardization of the language of email.

The conclusion then confirms the fact of the hybrid nature of the email language as a composite of both spoken and written English in addition to other language characteristics unique to email, but this hybridization is now being systemized as all he linguistic manifestations (whether in format, words, phrases, structures or even toot icons and abbreviations ...etc) have come to be understandable and agreed-upon, d have already been grouped in alphabetical glossaries and dictionaries ; this, in el is a step on the way of standardization and a case that supports mailers to through their daily use and most probably "impose" more ards for the language of email with the course of time.