4. Theoritical Framework: Discourse Analysis: Discourse (DA) is a modern discipline of the social sciences that covers a wide variety of different sociolinguistic approaches. Discourse analysts looks at any given text, and this just means anything that communicates a message, and particularly, how that message constructs a social reality or view of the world. The interpretation of a discourse element is dependent on another element that can be pointed out in discourse. (Renkema ,1993, 40). Discourse is more than a random set of utterances; it shows connectedness. A central objective of linguistis working on the discourse level is to characterize this connectedness. Linguists have traditionally approached this problem by looking at over linguistic elements and structure. (Halliday and Hasan, 1976 ,13). Cohesion : Cohesion is the grammatical and lexical linking within a text or sentence that holds a text together and gives it meaning. It is related to the broader concept of coherence. “Cohesion occurs when the interpretation of some element in the discourse is dependent on that of another” (Halliday and Hasan, 1976, 4) . The concept of cohesion, according to Halliday and Hasan (1976), is a semantic one. It deals with the relations of meaning within any text. It occurs where the interpretation of some element in the discourse is dependent on that of another and, thus, a relation of cohesion is set up. Cohesion and Coherence: The Importance of cohesion, if compared with
In Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz Mujerista Discourse: A platform for Latinas’ Subjugated Knowledge, she talks about the term “Lo Cotidiano” which translates to “the everyday” (Isasi-Diaz pg. 46), and she explains how this term is more complex than the actual meaning. She also explains that ‘lo cotidiano’ and the way every person lives their ‘cotidiano’ connects with the main idea of Mujerista Discoourse. In her writing, she discusses some personal experiences which bring a better understanding to the true meaning of lo ‘cotidiano’. Isasi-Diaz gives an in-depth explanation to what ‘lo cotidiano’ really means, or what it should mean.
A discourse community has yet to have a solid definition; though some have come close. One of the people who have attempted to define discourse community is John Swales. Swales, rather than use a standard definition, chose to create a set list of criteria. With the help of the criteria and my interview of Dane (a member of my chosen discourse community) I will discuss how my chosen group, Communications 101, is a discourse community. Communications 101 (Comm. 101) is a college credit class that helps the students in the class learn the “fundamental principles of verbal, nonverbal, written, and visual communication with an introduction to relational and organizational communication, public communication, and media studies.
With more clarity it would have prevented confusion by the class. Conciseness is another element of cognate strategies that will improve your communication and make your message understood. Many times, in an attempt to improve clarity, many points are added that may overwhelm the reader and lead to them losing interest before the intended message is
Some use of transitions to help clarify relationships between ideas and paragraphs. Weak transitions: Intro jumpy; Body paragraphs not connected. Lacking or weak transitions.
A discourse community is a group of people who share a common interest, ambition, and hobby; they use communication to achieve certain goals or issues that they have encountered. There are many discourse communities all over the world, and many of us are in one or more discourse communities; however, they might not even know it. In life, each person will eventually be a part of a discourse community. A discourse community has many definitions; John Swales defines discourse communities as, groups that have goals or purpose, and use communication to achieve these goals. According to “The Concept of Discourse Community,” by instructors and researcher John Swales, there are six requirements that are required to form a discourse community.
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
As a Sacramento State college student, I have observed that every student belongs to different discourse communities. Every student becomes part of an academic discourse community when declaring a major or minor. Gary D. Schmidt and William J. Vande Kopple define academic discourse community as “a group of people who share ways to claim [understand], organize, communicate, and evaluate meanings.” The academic discourse communities that I belong to will help me in the future to have experience working with others. Being part of the Sacramento State community, I have perceived that I belong to two academic discourse communities that have impacted my life in significant ways.
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.
According to “The Concept of Discourse Community”, there are six defining characteristics of a discourse community, Having common goals, Participatory mechanism, Information exchange, Community specific genres, Highly specialized terminology, and a High level of experience in all. The discourse community has a broadly agreed set of common public goals and there are many ways to participate but it varies based on the community like meetings, telecommunications correspondence, newsletters, and conversations. It also uses participatory mechanisms to provide information and feedback, and specific genres are unique communication forms used by a discourse community to share specialized knowledge and discuss topics relevant to their interests. In conclusion, Swales' reading defines discourse communities as cohesive groups that share a common enthusiasm and use distinct communication practices to achieve their
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.
It can be difficult to understand what it means to be a discourse or what communities fall under that category, and that is why I feel like John Swales’ definition of a discourse community is the the one that makes the most sense and the one that almost anybody can apply to communities they are part of and determine if they are discourses or not. Even though Gee and Porter had good points regarding discourses and good arguments, one almost had to be a linguist to fully understand what they were saying. They did help Swales get his point across more clearly in some instances though. Thanks to Swales I now know for a fact that my English 1113 class is a discourse community and I achieved that by following the six rules Swales presented as necessary to be a discourse community. Gee, James P. “Literary, Discourse, and Linguistics.”
A discourse in this understanding is not based on the classical distinction between thought and action, it “(…) is about the production of knowledge through language. But it is itself produced by a practice: “discursive practice” – the practice of producing meaning” (Hall, 2006:165). It follows that because all social practices involve meaning, all practices necessarily have a discursive side. A discourse is comparable to what sociologists would call an ‘ideology’. It is composed of statements and/or beliefs that shape knowledge in the interest of one particular group.
Cooperative Principles Violation In Romeo and Juliet Abstract: To some extent, language is actually a kind of art. A speaker of the language may quite often convey much more than what he literally says. The essence lies in how we understand and appreciate their language. Luckily, the Cooperative Principle (CP) is proposed, so the CP and the violation of CP enable us to interpret many efficient ways of language using and understanding in literature and daily life.