The objective of this paper is to analyze how Brazilian companies make intentional use of language in their websites to influence the target public's perceptions, beliefs, feelings and actions, and how this discourse absorbs elements of social context. The self-descriptive statement analysis of the forty companies is conducted from a historical and critical perspective which considers discourse as a social practice. Rhetorical analysis and Critical Discourse Analysis presumptions - being the Internet a means of research - were used for gathering and analyzing the data. Results indicate how culture and power are present in the language of web companies. They also reveal that the virtual space is a new place for the construction of meaning, a place in which companies enlarge their symbolic borders and rhetorically build their legitimacy.
culture; discourse; legitimacy; power; rhetoric
