This document discusses different styles of communication used within companies versus with the public. Internal company documents like memos and meeting minutes use intracompany vocabulary and an active voice. External documents like press releases and websites use more regular vocabulary and are less formal. Reports to the public focus on facts and statistics using an 11th grade reading level without emotion, aiming to educate readers and build ethos. More informal external communication talks directly to the audience, engages readers with slang, varied punctuation and structure, and pathos appeals.
Language and its manipulation based on the target audience 2
1.
2. • “from company to company”
• Uses intracompany
vocabulary
• Active voice
• Reports
• Memos, Internal e-mails,
meeting minutes, etc.
• “from company to the public”
• Active voice
• Less formal vocabulary
• Uses more regular vocabulary
• Press release, mission
statement, company website,
etc.
3. • Reports facts and statistics
• Readability is a minimum of
grade level 11
• Eliminates emotion
• More concerned with what is
reported rather and how to
present it in a educated way
• Ethos appeal
4. • Talks to the audience
• Engages reader
• Uses slang
• Uses weak adjectives
• Contains variation in punctuation
• Contains variation in sentence
structure
• Informal dialogue
• Pathos appeal
Editor's Notes
After analyzing the internal and external documents from the Target Corporation I realized that the language used in the intracompany correspondences varied from the language used to address the public. In both external documents and internal documents a different audience is desired thus the language used must be adjusted accordingly. Lets reference the picture on this slide while there are several audiences you can write to you will want to aim your language in a way that will be understood by your audience of interest and matches the purpose and reason of the document type. So now I ask you how can the language of a document target a certain audience.
Let us first determine what aspects define internal and external documents and how these aspects determine the type of language desired for the corresponding document type. Internal documents are documents that address “from company to company” this means that they only address people from inside the company such as employees. Internal documents also use intracompany vocabulary. These are terms that reference certain tasks or problems in a company that are typically understood only by people from inside the company. They also use active voice and apply Plain English which we have been learning about through out the semester in this course. The purpose of Internal documents is to report that means the documents often are more informative than external documents. Some examples would be Memos, internal emails, and meeting minutes. External Documents are documents that address “ from company to the public”. These documents unlike internal documents will address the public and sometimes both the public and people from inside the company. External documents like Internal documents also employ active voice and plain English. However, the language in the documents are usually less formal and use more common knowledge vocabulary. Some examples of external document types are press releases, mission statements and company websites. But what aspect of these documents cause the change in language used in the documents.
The choice in language of internal documents is directly effected by the purpose of the document. Internal documents like stated in the previous slide are responsible to report. This responsibility to report effects how the writer chooses what language to use in his or her writing. Internal documents will support this purpose by reporting facts and statistics to support its findings or argument. I also ran some of the writing from the internal documents of the target corporation through the hemingway app and found that the internal documents wrote at an eleventh grade level meaning that the writing has more advanced vocabulary and can be harder to understand without the proper background. In the internal documents emotion was eliminated and focused on the facts. Internal documents are more concerned with what is reported and how it is reported. This means that the company wants to be sure all information is provided and it is presented in a formal and clear way to avoid misunderstanding. Internal documents also make an ethos appeal or use the facts and statistics presented in the documents to make them more credible.
The choice in language of external documents unlike internal documents can vary based on the topic being addressed. External documents will use language that will directly talk to the audience. Sometimes external documents will use this to engage he reader like in the press release from Target about health eating. The writer will use language that will make the reader more attracted to its message. There were also places in press releases from the target corporation I encountered slang such as “dang” and I even encountered the use of a smiley face emoji in the middle of the writing. These type of language elements are used to again further engage the writer. External documents also tend to use weak adjectives such as “really special” because the use of formal language here would be too formal and would distract from the purpose of the writing. I also observed variations in punctuation and sentence structure. This included use of exclamation points, question marks, and changes in capitalization these again create a more inviting environment for the public. I also observed that many press releases used a pathos appeal or appealed to the emotions of the public. By doing this the company makes themselves more relatable and engages the public.
So what can you determine about how the elements I have talked about target the audience of interest?
We must first ask how does the word choice in an internal document target the company audience? By analyzing the aspects found in the internal documents of Target I determined that the company would use language from inside the company to maintain the professional environment and connect the employees of Target. The company assumes in all of its internal documents that these words are common knowledge and all employees have been taught what these terms mean. The formal word choice present in the internal documents aids in maintaining the professional tone. Internal documents also have to be selective in their word choice because if emotionally charged words are used in reporting the facts then the credibility is diminished. In addition the advanced vocabulary ensures that by creating an elevated standard of writing in the company the professional environment is maintained.
Now that we know how the word choice in an internal document targets the company audience how does the word choice in an external document target the public? I found that the goal of an external document is to address a specific topic that involves the public. Target would use a pathos appeal to engage the reader by creating a sense of humanity in the company and relate to its customers. I also observed that the vocabulary an language of the external douments was less formal and this ensured that more people could read this and not be confused and thus allowing access to more customers. The casual tone of the external documents also allows the public to see Target as a company where dialogue is encouraged. The emotionally charged language is used to call for the public to be just as concerned about the topic at hand and unite the public and Target.
So now it is your turn to apply this knowledge and I encourage you to always analyze how language in a document is manipulated to link the reader to the writer.
