Email and Informality

Email tends to be less formal, more social, and less edited than a similar message by paper. The distance between writer and audience tends to be close rather than distant. For evidence, look to stylistic features and arrangement,

N Maynor's linguistic study illustrated an "e-style" closer to speech than writing. She found

lexically

• messages as a whole are informal, including clipped words (prob for problem)
• simplified spellings
• use of informal words like yep and nope

syntactically

• sentences freely omit subjects, modals, and articles

punctuation

• informal, loose, leaving out optional commas in introductory clauses
• lack of caps, high use of !!, frequent use of trailing dots and dashes at ends of sentences
• use of ( ) to indicate conversational asides.

Maynor's conclusion: these features give a spoken quality to email messages.

Other observations

• sentences are sometimes short, S -V order, or written in loose, running style, rather than periodic or climactic
• longer messages are typical, evoking a sense of casual social exchange.
• writers will use slang, abbreviations, informal lexicon
• writers will use simplified spellings
• writers will use casual punctuation, laxness about editing
• writers will use loose, spontaneous overall organization
• subject lines will be casual more than pointed
• arguments may rely on ethos and pathos rather than logos
• appeals for action will be direct - no skirting
• writers will be less reserved, more candid, than in print
• the writing tends to be non-reflective
• knowledge shared by participants is not elaborated

from Baron, Crystal, Maynor, with additions