Week 2: Understanding the term “Discourse Community” (DC)
For Tuesday:
Texts:
- Read “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan
Writing:
- Think about language and the different ways you communicate or speak. Choose a word or phrase that you use with one group of people (family, friends, co-workers, etc.) that would not be understood by a different group of people in your life. What is the meaning of this word or phrase? How would you explain it to someone who is an outsider?
For Thursday:
Texts:
- Read “She’s Your Basic LOL in NAD” by Perri Klass.
Writing:
- Read and annotate Perri Klass’s article.
- After reading the Perri Klass article, and seeing her experience with being inside of a DC, how would you define the concept of a DC? Write a three to four sentence definition.
There’s a lot that’s different from the way I speak my national language from English. In my language I don’t call my brothers and aunts uncles, parents by their first names , I call any body that’s a cousins or family boy that’s older then me bhai which is older brother then their name and for older sister api. But that means my younger brother and cousins all call me bhai it’s a Sighn of respect is how I would explain it to someone else.
Based on my interpretation of the article, a discourse community is a group of people bonded together in a specific setting, be it professionally, familial, or in another way, who’s members engage in a form of communication that diverges from the standard language. This secret communication can be verbal, written, or even nonverbal, perhaps using various hand gestures or facial expressions. The language used by the members of the group has been created specifically to be understood only by the members “in the know.” In essence, a discourse community is somewhat like a code.
Code switching has become a very important element in my communication due to the family and culture i was raised in.
My culture is “Big” on humility and respect. We use phrases and words such as “please” alot when we are reffering to someone of a higher status or older.
This is not the case in the american culture/ dialect as it could lead to people feeling a way or uncomfortable
”You’ll have to tell me what an NG tube is if you want me to sympathize properly,” my mother said. NG, nasogastric – isn’t it obvious?”
“These special languages contribute to a sense of closeness and professional spirit among people who are under a great deal of stress.”
”I learned a new language this past summer. At times it thrills me to hear myself using it. It enables me to understand my colleagues, to communicate effectively in the hospital.”
A discourse community is a community that discusses related topics and information.One important thing that makes a discourse community is the knowledge that is shared in the community.Another key feature is Listening and learning about the topic being shared.Discourse community’s are ways to learn together and be with people with shared goals.
Based on what we discussed and read in class, a discourse community to me is small sub groups within a community that understand a certain language or phrase. A good example of this would be a gaming community. They have different sub groups from different genres. In these different genres certain phases and words means different things that only that gaming group would understand. This example can have the same layout with other communities.
A discourse community is a community in which people of a similar interest or background have developed their own way of using language to suit their needs.
When I think of a phrase that may be understood by those within a same community as me, what comes to mind is words that may be used in a professional or technical setting.
I’ve had the experience of meeting people that held technical positions and having them speak to me in the technical jargon I understood very little of what was being asked of me.
Similarly at my job, there were terms that I learned there such as “load” or “return” which I came to learn had nothing to do with what I may have thought.
Certainly, a phrase I might use with my close friends is ” Netflix and chill,” which implies hanging out casually and watching Netflix together, but it wouldn’t be understood in the same way by my family members or co-workers who might interpret it more literally.