Discourse Communities or more specifically “capital D” Discourse communities are groups or communities of people who share common goals, values, and ways of communicating within a specific context or field; According to google. There are many kinds of Discourse communities and are very common in the everyday world; they are all around us no matter where you are. Some examples are activist groups all with the common goals to have something changed or have something be different in the world, or a sports camp with the shared goal of getting better at that sport. Discourse communities have been around for a very long time and even though they are very common not every group can be a Discourse community as it has to follow six requirements.
Requirements
- Share goals: Everyone in that group must have the same goals or have an alignment of goals and to be agreed upon in that group to be even considered a DC
- Intercommunication: The group must have some sort of communication function(s) or shared ideas among the members
- Feedback: There has to be disagreement or information being engaged among members and essentially feedback given
- Genres: Genres refer to specific types of communication that are used and recognized to show meaning that make the Discourse community more effective
- Lexis: These are similar to jargon if not almost the exact same in the sense that it is the specific terminologies, languages or vocabulary that members of a group use
- Expertise: The last requirement is a must like all of the other requirements where it has to have someone to have an advanced knowledge, skill, and experience of that group and its member
Discourse Communities are vital when it comes to society as it helps shape the world as we know it and may, people may not know that it plays a part in their lives or their city or their home. They come in many different shapes and sizes, the world wouldn’t be the same without them.
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