• corporate websites
• cultural differences
• ELF
• persuasion
• wine industry

In a world that is constantly evolving, companies have become aware of the importance of being present in the digital world. As a consequence, nowadays, one of the main tools of communication used by companies is corporate websites. Indeed, in an increasingly competitive world market, companies can differentiate themselves from their competitors through the effective use of their own websites, which allow them to present their identity and their products, to establish a relationship with existing or potential customers and to operate on a global scale. In this regard, they have to develop their website in more than one language in order to be effective and, in most cases, English is used as a lingua franca to address an international audience.
The aim of the present research is to examine the way in which the three Aristotelian modes of persuasion (ethos, logos and pathos) are used in wine companies’ websites and to observe whether differences and similarities could be found among three Italian and three French companies operating in the wine industry.
In order to carry out this analysis, a small-scale corpus was built, that can be subdivided into two subcorpora, an Italian corpus and a French corpus, including specific sections of the websites taken into account. They have been analysed by combining both qualitative and quantitative research, with the support of the concordancing software AntConc.
Furthermore, elements related to ethos, logos and pathos were examined in both corpora: namely, elements used to promote the company’s credible and reputable image (ethos), to establish an emotional bond with readers (pathos) or to provide objective information based on logic and reason (logos).
The analysis revealed that, in both corpora, the three modes of persuasion are largely employed. Therefore, it is possible to confirm that corporate websites represent an effective source of persuasion for companies. In this regard, results show that both similarities and differences could be identified between French and Italian wine corporate websites and, particularly, the most striking differences are related to the use of ethos and pathos.
Finally, in the last part, a small-scale analysis based on Hofstede’s cultural dimensions was carried out, so as to analyse whether the countries’ cultural differences identified by Hofstede are reflected on the websites taken into account. In this regard, it was noted that, in most cases, French and Italian companies’ linguistic choices are in line with their scores in the four dimensions considered.

Abstract In a world that is constantly evolving, companies have become aware of the importance of being present in the digital world. As a consequence, nowadays, one of the main tools of communication used by companies is corporate website. Indeed, in an increasingly competitive world market, companies can differentiate themselves from their competitors through the effective use of their own websites, allowing them to present their identity and their products, to establish a relationship with existing or potential customers and to operate on a global scale. In this regard, they have to develop their website in more than one language in order to be effective and, in most cases, English is used as a lingua franca to address an international audience. The aim of the present research is to examine the way in which the three Aristotelian modes of persuasion (ethos, logos and pathos) are used in wine companies’ websites and to observe whether differences and similarities could be found among three Italian and three French companies operating in the wine industry. In order to carry out this analysis, a small-scale corpus was built, that can be subdivided into two subcorpora, an Italian corpus and a French corpus, including specific sections of the websites taken into account. They have been analysed by combining both qualitative and quantitative research, with the support of the software AntConc. Furthermore, through the two frameworks adopted, in the two corpora elements related to ethos, logos and pathos have been examined: namely, elements used to promote the company’s credible and reputable image (ethos), to establish an emotional bond with readers (pathos) or to provide objective information based on logic and reason (logos). Through the present analysis it emerges that, in both corpora, the three modes of persuasion have been largely found. Therefore, it is possible to confirm that corporate websites represent an effective source of persuasion for companies and that ethos, logos and pathos can be found also in the digital world. In this regard, results show that both similarities and differences could be identified between French and Italian wine corporate websites and, particularly, the most striking differences are related to the use of ethos and pathos. Finally, in the last part, a small-scale analysis based on Hofstede’s cultural dimensions has been carried out, so as to analyse whether the countries’ cultural differences identified by Hofstede are reflected on the websites taken into account. In this regard, it has been noted that, in most cases, French and Italian companies’ linguistic choices are in line with their scores in the four dimensions considered.