| Author: | Chu, Kwan-yu |
| Title: | Interaction in email announcement and broadcasting message |
| Degree: | M.A. |
| Year: | 2001 |
| Subject: | Electronic mail messages Hong Kong Polytechnic University -- Dissertations |
| Department: | Department of English |
| Pages: | 62 leaves : ill. ; 30 cm |
| Language: | English |
| Abstract: | Two people interacting is a major part of human communication. In the process of communication through writing email, the writers and readers are physically separated from each other, this medium is sometimes considered as offering few, if any, opportunities for overt interaction between the participants. This study aims primarily at showing that this is not necessarily the case, and that writers have at their disposal a wide range of interactional choices that enable them to project a relatively overt ineraction with their readers. To demonstrate this, 23 emails are analyzed in terms of the writer's choices from three of the basic interpersonal system of the language: mood, reference, and modality. The analyses conducted indicate that the specific need and expectation of the typical readers of emails announcement or broadcasting represent an important incentive behind the interactional style that characterizes this genre. Some choices from the system of mood are responses to the reader's seeking of answers to the questions he/ she already has. Those from the reference system are clear reflection of the attempt to build an intimate relationship with the reader to fulfil his/ her needs for support and assurance. The addressee-oriented function of modality also helps in projecting the reader's beliefs and expectations about his/ her issues. It is chiefly the collective effect of the choices from these three systems that gives this genre its interactional character. The study concludes that this is more evidence of the projection of an overt interaction between writers and readers in emails announcements and broadcasting, instead of a monologic activity. |
| Rights: | All rights reserved |
| Access: | restricted access |
Files in This Item:
| File | Description | Size | Format | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| b1608276x.pdf | For All Users (off-campus access for PolyU Staff & Students only) | 2.12 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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