There is no doubt today that business emails have become widely used as a preferred linguistic mediator within local and international business parties. It is also the case that English is the lingua franca language used in most business emails (Abbasian & Tahririan, 2008; Crystal, 2002; Gains, 1999; Gimenez, 2000, 2005, 2006; Huang, 2012; Kiang, 2003; Kirkgoz, 2010; Lan, 2000; Mallon & Oppenheim, 2002; Upton, 2002; Rowe, 2010; Xiao,2011). In this pilot study, I attempt to investigate the structure of business emails written in two Kuwaiti banks, employing a discourse analysis approach. The analyzed data consist of ten emails collected from two banks located in Kuwait City. In this paper, I examine the components of emails, stylistic features, lexis and style utilized by Kuwaiti and non-Kuwaiti financial employers. Findings in both banks reveal that the two banks use similar structural components to open and end the emails but different stylistic features and lexis to write their business concerns and inquires. This pilot study indicates that, not only the bank’s agenda and prospective business goals influence the structure of business emails, but also the employers’ demographics and stylistic features of writing business documents. I argue that this novel study has several implications for business employers and banks in regard to developing their linguistic stylistic features in business projects, deals and negotiations. It is also a significant pilot study to understand the way Arab and non-Arabs in Kuwait produce linguistic and stylistic features of business emails in Kuwaiti financial institutions.
Abbasian, F., & Tahririan, M. H. (2008). The discoursal and formal analysis of e-mails: A cross disciplinary genre analysis. Iranian Journal of Applied Linguistics (IJAL), 11(2), 1-22.
Gimenez, J. (2000). Business e-mail communication: some emerging tendencies in register. English for Specific Purposes, Vol. 19/3: 237-251.
Kirkgoz, Y. (2010). Analyzing the discourse of e-mail communication. In R. Taiwo (Ed.), Handbook of research on discourse behavior and digital communication: Language structures and social interaction (pp. 335-348). Pennsylvania: Hershey, Pa., IGI Global
