Michael Amdall                                                                                                                                              English 1311   

                                                                                                               8/31/10

                                          Discourse community

            A discourse community is a social group that communicates, in part, using written texts but also shares common goals, values, writing standards, specialized vocabulary, and specialized genres. Everyone is a part of their own distinct discourse community(s). I am in 4 discourse communities, each one of them

            The first discourse community on my map is the addicting and well know Facebook. Facebook is a very popular and well organized discourse community. Facebook is a Social internet network that is use for friends and families. Some main goals for Facebook is talking, meeting, and finding friends. Facebook makes it easy to find old and new friends. A genre of Facebook is Farmville, where you can build your own farm and grow all different types of plants. Another genre of Facebook is the news feeds, which give you the latest news about recent events regarding your friends and your networks. The specialized vocabulary that Facebook has is abbreviations such as, LOL means laugh out loud, JK is Just kidding, gtg is Got to go, cya is see you later, and many others. Some other specialized vocabulary would be inside jokes and symbols, such as L J, “that’s what she said”, “birds the word” and, “Ayyuuuuhhh”. Anyone can join Facebook it has a set of easy steps to join.

            The second discourse community that I am apart of is my church. I go to church on post at Center Chapel One. It’s not a very big church but it stills a place of worship. Everyone can go to this church there are no restrictions. Some goals and values regarding this discourse community are to always look presentable when attending church make sure you stay assertive and awake during the service, everyone knows sometimes church can be tiresome, and finally you should always greet everyone with respect.  Some Genres of church are the bible, the choir, communion, and the priest. The specialized vocabulary that a church has is Gospel singing, prayer, and bible talk. These are all in each service when you go to church.

            The third discourse community is my favorite and most cherished one, my family. A discourse community this discourse community everyone has, even if it not threw blood some friends can be like a family. When you’re in a family you have a set of goals and values that you should abide by. One goal is that you should be a role model to your younger sibling(s). Some other goals are to respect and always tell them the truth. The genres of a family are family outings, diner with the family, cell phones, and cars.    

The specialized vocabulary that my family has is nick names, abbreviated text messages, letters, and facial expressions. Some examples of these are my family calls me big mike, When we text each other we use “K” for ok and “idk” For I don’t know and others. Everyone is a member of their own family. 

            The fourth and final discourse community of mine is college student. I am a college student attending at University of Texas at El Paso. The Goals and values for this community are: graduating, making money, socialize (meet new people), starting the building blocks for your future life. Some genres are the Internet, Text books, Emailing and Blackboard. The specialized vocabulary for college students is abbreviated phrases group discussions and e-mails, such as “The UGLC” meaning the Undergraduate Learning Center. In group discussions we speak as if we were in an interview, using proper grammar. To become a college student you must have a high school diploma or a GED, and good GPA. And you might need a decent amount of cash flow to get supplies.

            To sum it all up these are the discourse communities that I am in, and they are different in their own way which make me and everyone else in this world much different.