Post 13

In Swales article, he believes that there are six defining characteristics that are necessary and sufficient for identifying a group of individuals as a discourse community. Swales also mentions in his article that there are special ways to communicate in a discourse community, or what he calls a lexis. A lexis can be things such as abbreviations or secret words that only the specific discourse community that uses them would understand. Gee believes that you either belong to a Discourse community or you do not. Discourse communities are learned by social practices from people like our parents. Gee also believes that there can be secondary discourse communities, and one learns to be a part of them through outside forces such as churches, schools, and athletics. At the same time, Gee believes that if one is not fully a part of a Discourse community it is Mushfake, or a partial acquisition coupled with meta-knowledge and strategies to “make do.” Johns states in her article that a person is born into their discourse community and that they can choose secondary communities. These communities can be things like political groups or sports groups, both professional and unprofessional. In Wardle’s article, she believes that ones identity is not completely determined. One can challenge genres rather than choosing between one genre, or another genre. She also states that authority in a discourse community is continually negotiated and those same institutions or its members that gave the person the authority position or title can easily withdraw an authority position.