DISCOURSE AND CONVERSATION Abstract Language is given to accentuating diversity among humans. We would do well to explore diversity among forms of discourse and among forms of talk-in-interaction in particular. Among the speech-exchange systems, ordinary conversation has been asserted to be distinctive and fundamental, but questions have been raised about both asserts. The resources for selective among speech-exchange systems are located in such generic organizations of practice as turn-taking, progression organization, the organization of repair and the overall structural organization of episodes of interaction. `Conversation ' as a distinctive speech-exchange system is real and is not only a residual category, and that it is to be understood as the `basic ' speech-exchange system, in part by reference to the distinctive turn-taking organization through which it is implemented. Discourse and Conversation …show more content…
The study of discourse is sometimes more narrowly construed as the study of connected sequences of sentences produced by a single speaker. In what follows we will construe the term, discourse narrowly and when more than one person is involved, we will speak of conversation or more generally a talk-exchange. There are many forms of discourse and many forms of talk-exchange. Letters, jokes, stories, lectures, sermons, speeches, and so on, are all categories of discourse; arguments, interview, business dealing, instruction, and conversation are categories of
Josh Ladrigan Professor Gibson Intermediate Composition 6 February 2023 Sales Associates in the GFS Community Discourse communities can be found wherever you go, and many people are involved with a variety of communities. People may be involved in these communities through their profession, interests, or hobbies. These communities can be any group that uses a variation of communication to reach certain goals. The true definition of a discourse community is a group that has objectives or purposes, and utilizes communication to accomplish those objectives. The discourse community I am going to discuss is the community within my workplace, Gordon Food Service (GFS).
For me, the logos, pathos and ethos perspective of joining a discourse community I had been part of, taught me a lesson about interpersonal skills, organizational systems and professionalism. My aim of this paper is to share my experience of joining Chitwan Pharmacy Student Association (CPSA) via use of rhetorical skills that we have discussed in class of English 1301.
A majority of people believe they could just walk into Sheetz on any day and know how to perform as an employee. However, it is not that simple because a discourse community like Sheetz requires much practice to actually know what to accomplish. In the Sheetz community, it is required to learn how to perform tasks from managers and other employees by observation. We also learn by watching training videos and going through PowerPoints about how to present good customer service. As for the employees who actually love working, they put all of their effort into keeping the environment for customers as enjoyable as possible.
Picture this, a new rookie defense attorney gets called into his boss’ office, worried that he did something wrong. As he enters his boss’ office, his boss begins informing him in a calm and hortatory tone that he needs to start thinking outside the box when he goes up and defends his clients. Now normally, getting called into the boss’ office would seem like a bad thing, but in this case, the boss just wanted his subordinate to do something and he didn’t have to talk to him as if he was talking to his wife. Instead, the boss talked to his subordinate in a consultative register in order to get his message across. According to the ardent and fervent essay excerpt “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan depicts that if you want to have power in a conversation; you will have to learn and speak in English.
Dialogic vs. Monologic Rhetoric Most students have had at least one bad teacher during their time in school. Looking back, many of the classes I didn’t enjoy or struggled with had teachers who treated the classroom like it was a one-sided conversation. In that case the teacher is engaging in monologic conversation, and in this paper, I will be discussing why dialogic conversation is more beneficial to the listener than monologic. This will be supported by talking about how rhetoric has evolved from Aristotle to Bakhtin, Aristotle’s version of monologic conversation, and how dialogic conversation would be more helpful in situations such as the classroom.
Rudolf Steiner, an Austrian philosopher and author, once stated, “The well-being of a community of people working together will be the greater, the less the individual claims for himself the proceeds of his work, the more of these proceeds he makes over to his fellow-workers, the more his own needs are satisfied, not out of his own work but out of the work done by others” (“Recording of Society”). This quote represents the true meaning of a discourse community. A discourse community is a group of social individuals that work together to reach a common goal, understand the same basic values and assumptions, and use a unique kind of communication to reach their set goal or purpose. A good example of a discourse community is the organization
Gee explains a Discourse as something that identifies you. He describes a Discourse as a kit that instructs you how to speak, act, and write in a certain place. This is a guide that helps people understand what is right and wrong on the topic of language and interpretations. Everyone already has a Discourse and has multiple ones, some people need practice to make theirs better.
In James Paul Gee’s essay “What Is Literacy?’ , he uses the key term ‘discourses’. Gee explains discourses as a placement in society or the belonging to a group in society. Gee states that it come from an individual’s saying, doings, or just their identity. As Gee elaborates on discourses he breaks them down into different areas in which relate to one another.
We communicate in many ways, either by email, telephone, text, face to face, social media or letters and the language we use allows us to get things done, nonetheless the language and communication method in which we chose to use can vary depending on the discourse community. Much like John Swales suggests a discourse community involves a group of people who share the same common public goals, such as shared interests, rules, structure, and vocabulary. When thinking about the several discourse communities I am evolved in, which include family, coaching football, college student, and a few friends. These discourse communities have influenced me, given me insight of where I come from and tell who I am as a person. I also believe much like Swales,
In the article "The Concept of a Discourse Community" by John Swales (1990). He aimed to define the meaning of a discourse community; then he carefully deconstructs discourse community into six fundamental attributes that are important for recognizing a discourse community. Swales’ definition of a discourse community is a group that has objectives or purposes, and utilize communication to accomplish those objectives. He states that a discourse community is presented as a more practical and purposeful gathering than speech fraternity or speech group. The six essential characteristics that Swales (1990) belief to be the core of a discourse community are its goals, intercommunication, participation, genres, Lexis, and expertise.
Grant-Davie describes thoroughly the term rhetorical situation and how the development of the definition and its constituents has contributed to the discovery of the motives and responses behind any discourse. The analysis of rhetorical situations could determine the outer or inner influences of the rhetors, the audience, and their particular constraints. Grant Davie supports his claims by using the earlier definitions of scholars and teachers as his foundation. He also addresses his own analysis drawn by life experienced discourses which it also helps the reader understand the causes of rhetorical situations. This is important because it teaches any writer or reader to analyze a situation and think about the options and paths it could lead
The Community Within the Gym What is a discourse community? Most will say that it is defined as a group of people with common interests who communicate through particular terms and genres. Reading the article, “The Concept of Discourse Community”, I have found that there is a more complex definition, which include six characteristics that make a group a discourse community, as linguist John Swales states. The characteristics that follow are:
The way communication changes when talking to an audience or talking to fellow people in the field is something that occurs in each. Though each of these discourse communities use different sets of jargon. The idea of making an idea easier for an audience of common people is something that happens with both communities. Another important aspect that is the same among the discourse communities is the cost. Though the cost comes from different areas, the bottom line the cost is great.
One point Swales brought up was that communication is necessary to fall under the category of a discourse community and that each discourse community must have a unique way of communicating (221). That is a way of saying that each discourse community must have their own language. If a group of people are really part of the discourse community, then they will be able to communicate fluently (Swales 221). Communication and language is a very hot topic in Gee’s article and we see that when he says, “Someone can speak English, but not fluently. However, someone cannot engage in a discourse in a less than fluent matter.
Based on Stuart Hall’s (2006) discussion of Foucault’s theory of discourse, a discourse is generally consisting of a group of statements that together offer a way of talking about a par-ticular knowledge on a certain topic. Many individuals can produce it together, in different institutional settings. The discourse thereby enables the construction of a topic in a specific way which at the same time limits other constructions of the same topic. A discourse is made up not only from one but a multiplicity of statements that all share the same style to talk about the same topic. However, it is not a closed off system, it draws statements from and into other discourses.