Mi scusi, prof.ssa - Formule di allocuzione nella comunicazione via e-mail. Un'indagine comparativa tra tedesco come lingua straniera e italiano

The present study exemplifies strategies of verbal politeness in current Italian in the context of virtual, institutionally integrated communication processes (e-mail correspondence between students and lecturers at an Italian university) with reference to the diaphasic, diastratic and diamesic dimensions of speech acts. The study is based on a corpus of 270 e-mails that Italian students of German Studies have addressed to lecturers, both of German and Italian origin. The focus of the analysis is on the use of forms of address in the opening sequence which is significant for managing further relationship.