Language Analysis

EMOTIVE AND COLLOQUIAL LANGUAGE IN A MAGAZINE

Elle Magazine is a well-known fashion magazine; it has a target audience of 16-30 year olds. ‘Elle’ does mean ‘She’ in French after all so it is all about the females. 

There is a use of emotive and colloquial language throughout the magazine, this aides in making the audience feel comfortable and assures enjoyment when reading the magazine. The most common use of colloquial language are words/phrases such as ‘’insta’’, ‘’tweet’’, ‘’filters’’ and ‘’most likes/most followers’’. These examples are considered as being colloquial language due to it being frequently used in today’s society. All of the above are references to social media. This shows the incredible progress and importance social media holds in today’s society.

 Considering the rapid improvements in technology it’s no surprise for magazines to use these phrases too. Using colloquial language allows the audience to be more attracted and allows them to feel as they are engaging or being reached out to by the magazine.

Another word used like ‘LOL’ which is an abbreviation for ‘laugh out loud’ is a phrase used when texting someone you speak to on a regular basis. The use of such language suggests a relationship and therefore suggests comfortableness. This means that by the editor using language like so will make the reader feel included and suggests a friendship between the reader and the editor which is important for the magazine. The editor also uses social media like twitter and also publishes the tweet on the Elle website stating that she is ‘’not to be trusted around jam doughnuts and karaoke machines’’. This again highlights the fact that the editor is keen to create an impression where she is seen as laid back and easy to approach. There are no barriers and this allows the reader to feel comfortable and trust the contents of the magazine, with the editor not portraying a very hard core authoritarian personality it makes the magazine more enjoyable. The editor knows and understands the audience and therefore the magazine becomes more appealing.