I Was Wondering...
As a relatively new faculty member, I am still fascinated by the kinds of requests I receive from students...and those that find me through email are particularly intriguing. It would be a mistake to try to categorize the "typical" student-request-email, however, given the variability in this type of specimen. Ranging from the topic-less and name-less, to the machinations of the most sublime wordsmiths, student-request-emails provide an endless wealth of linguistic features to consider. Still, given that the point of such an email is to obtain faculty approval or assistance of some sort, one wonders what features separate the successful from the unsuccessful requests.
Hartford & Bardovi-Harlig (1996) point out that students are placed in a unique situation when they consider the structure of their request. Specifically, the student must consider how to best protect his/her reputation as a competent member of the class (saving positive face) while simultaneously presenting the request in a way that maximizes the feedback obtained and minimizes the imposition on the professor's time (saving negative face). Juggling this mixture of goals can be quite challenging. The authors note that, in order to be successful, students must, "judge the degree of imposition...take into account the rights and obligations of the parties involved, and choose the most effective ways to influence the faculty's behavior..." (p. 55). Obviously, not all students are as effective at negotiating these requirements. These failed attempts were identified as Negative Affect Requests (NARs) and the authors suggest that they may be perceived as "rude or inappropriate" and may leave the professor with "some desire not to fulfill the request" (p. 56).
So, what separates a PAR (Positive Affect Request) from a NAR? Hartford & Bardovi-Harlig collected emails from their graduate students over the period of a year and then judged these emails on several categories including the use of linguistic forms, content, and the level of imposition. Regarding linguistic forms, they found that NARs contained more want statements, utilized "appreciate" not as an expression of gratitude, but as a part of the request itself (e.g., I'd appreciate finding out...), and showed more use of Please + Imperative (e.g., Please consider it.). In contrast, students who succeeded in creating a PAR utilized twice as many "Other" forms including "wonder" statements (e.g., I was wondering if...) and the use of mitigating words (e.g., kindly).
In the best case of stars aligning, I had two people recommend a new music website to me this weekend...and one of them sent a link directly in my email, so of course, I couldn't resist. Pandora allows users to create music stations based on their song or artist preferences. Seems like a simple concept, but it is oh so addicting! It wasn't hard for me to quickly develop 19 different stations ranging from Sunrise Radio to DeVotchKa Radio. And, if that isn't enough to keep you busy, you can elect to "Quick Mix" your stations...creating strange mixes that entertain for hours. Another great feature is that you can look up other people's mixes...for example, you can find people who have the same station and then check out what else they have created. Who knew that there would be five users already who have Jo's Lament Radio? It's pretty cool! But, be warned...remember what happened when Pandora opened that box...information overload is the plague of our times!
Writing 10 years ago about the linguistics of email, Baron (1998) examines several challenges in determining its defining features. The author considers these challenges a direct reflection of the underlying difficulty in distinguishing written from spoken language. In other words, although the casual observer may like to categorize email use as either one or the other form of communication, such an identification presupposes that one can clearly determine what defines writing and speaking in the first place. Flexibility and fluidity are defining features of language in general, and this dynamic nature is clearly represented in the modalities we utilize for the expression of language as well.