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From Formality to Familiarity: Greeting Formulas in Emails Written by Teachers to Parents

Summary/Abstract: The purpose of the article is the analysis of greeting formulas in emails written by teachers to parents. The linguistic material is based on 513 email messages sent to parents by means of an online parent portal (e-dziennik). The messages in question were sent by teachers representing a number of schools in Lesser Poland Province. The formal relationship between the participants of the communication and the written form of the exchanges clearly pertains to the traditional formality of the situation; as a result, expectations are raised in terms of the official style of utterances produced under these circumstances. The analysis of the obtained material indicates that greeting formulas used in emails diverge significantly from those used in official paper-based correspondence. Traditional formulas such as Szanowni Państwo (Dear Sir/Madame, Dear Sirs) are clearly replaced by formulas originating from direct verbal communication (Dzień dobry, Witam). There is an apparent tendency to become familiar with recipients by using emoticons or the language formulas present in private correspondence between people who have a close relationship. In addition to the lack of text segmentation, the overall linguistic layout and spelling strategies that prevail in both greeting formulas and the entire body of letters indicate a negligent attitude in terms of text layout.

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