A linguistic analysis of farewell emails by Malaysian workers / Khairul Firhan Yusob and Khairunisa Nikman

Email has been one of the most important means of communication in a workplace since the 1990s. This scenario comes about since email can disseminate information to different groups of people simultaneously. Information that is frequently disseminated via email includes introducing new employees, sending memos of meetings and bidding farewells. Of all types of emails, researchers have paid little attention to farewell emails. Essentially, some of the reasons to bid farewells are due to transfers or retirements. This study adapts a qualitative approach by examining farewell emails from a linguistic perspective. For this purpose, 12 emails were selected and analysed using a genre-based approach. The authors of the emails were employees of a university who differed in terms of their gender, position and reasons for leaving. As the setting of the present study is local, all emails were written in Malay. The findings revealed seven moves, some of which were realised through several steps. All the identified moves were classified as Typical since they had a high percentage of occurrences. The analysis also revealed some differences between the farewell emails sent by staff being relocated and retired. The study could benefit workplace communication and prepare future writers of this genre on what is expected and should be written in their last emails to leave a good impression on their colleagues.