Sähköpostiviestien aloitukset ja lopetukset oppijansuomessa ja oppijanruotsissa

Authors

• Outi Toropainen Jyväskylän yliopisto
• Sinikka Lahtinen Turun yliopisto

Keywords:

interpersonality, formality, e-mail, learner Finnish, learner Swedish, CEFR proficiency levels

Abstract

This study examines interpersonality and audience awareness of initial greetings and leavetaking formulae in 1,041 e-mails (523 Finnish, 518 Swedish) written by Finnish (n = 222) and Swedish (n = 174) language learners in basic education, secondary education and at university level in Finland. The results reveal that there are certain communicative differences between the two groups. The e-mails contain different levels of formality: Swedish learners use more initial greetings and their messages are slightly more coherent than those of Finnish learners. The initial greeting hei/hej is commonly used in different contexts, regardless of the language. Learners’ audience awareness is indicated by addressing the recipient by their proper name. The largest variation has been found in leave-taking formulae in both groups. We observed that greetings and leave-taking become more complex and increasingly similar to the target language at a higher level of proficiency.