Textual metafunction and thematic structure in computer-mediated communication of scam emails

Abstract

This study analysed the thematic structure of scam email clauses using Halliday's Systemic Functional Grammar framework. The primary  objective was to determine the most common thematic structure in scam emails and investigate whether these structures are unique to  this type of email. Six categories of Nigerian scam emails were selected for analysis, sourced from personal email spam folders and a  consumer-fraud awareness database. A total of 252 clauses from these emails were examined. The results indicated that simple thematic  structures were more prevalent than multiple or clausal thematic structures across the Nigerian scam email clauses analysed. Additionally, the study concluded that the thematic structure of a scam email is not determined by its type.