Openings and Closings in Workplace Emails

Languages vary when it comes to linguistic manifestations of formal politeness, but what particularly marks professional email communication is the flexibility genre compared traditional, business letters. This poses question how individual writers navigate without clear standards and clearly prescribed formulae. study focuses on writer and, specifically, opening salutations closing valedictions in 927Norwegian workplace emails, followed by metapragmatic interviews with their senders. In an egalitarian society few explicit choices formulations provide a rich source data. Linguistic content analysis reveals significant degree consistency each person’s use, which indicates that there are no commonly held norms, people make own rules. The interviewees aware ofwhich openings closings they prefer, often not why. Further data hierarchical social distance motivational factor, intentions be either personally close or professionally distant are. Both regarded as viable options emails users. However, informants’ perception items represent these motivations depends preferences rather than any establishedor institutionalised practises. latter uniquely Norwegian problem, concerns correspondents general because innate genre.