ALEXANDRA B. SHOTOLU
Department of English Language, Faculty of Art, University of Lagos, Nigeria
ABSTRACT
This study investigates stylistic patterns in Nigerian banks’ email marketing using a pragmatic stylistic framework grounded in Speech Act Theory. The research addresses how banks deploy language strategically to inform, persuade, and maintain customer relationships in digital communication. A mix method approach of quantitative and qualitative research design was adopted. Sixty marketing emails received from six Nigerian banks between May and November 2022 formed the data pool, from which twenty-two text-rich emails were purposively selected. Utterances were coded into representative, directive, expressive, and commissive speech acts, while thematic categories and foregrounding devices were also identified. Findings show that informative messages dominate bank email marketing, and representative (45%) and directive (42%) speech acts are statistically predominant, indicating that banks prioritize awareness creation and customer action. Emails are stylistically concise, averaging five speech acts per message body, and frequently employ highlights, bullet points, and rhetorical questions for emphasis. The study concludes that Nigerian banks use deliberate pragmatic and stylistic choices to balance information delivery, persuasion, and relationship management within brief, accessible digital texts.
Keywords: Pragmatic stylistics, Speech act theory, Email marketing discourse, Nigerian banks.
Received: [ 07/ 01/ 2026]
| Accepted: [18 /01/ 2026]
| Published: [20 /02/ 2026]
How to cite: Shotolu, A. B. (2022). The Study of Style in Bank Email Marketing. International Journal of Scholarly
Resources, ISSN: 1234-5678.
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