Julia Garcia-Gonzalez 1

Discourse community

Discourse community ethnography

The concept of Discourse community by John Swales establishes the meaning of a
Discourse community. John gives examples and a definition of discourse community and he also
explains the different groups of people that can create one. A discourse community is described
as a specific way of communicating with in small or large groups of people. According to John
Swale a discourse community have 6 characteristics; common goals, intercommunication among
its members, participation, genres, lexis and expertise. I would like to talk about the United
States government as a discourse community. As all Communities, there is no perfect one. The
U.S Government have the 6 characteristics that john swales talk about, but it also has its
problems. One of the biggest problems that the government have is corruption. Everyone knows
that every problem has a solution, corruption cannot be solved very easy but with organization of
the community , making clear what their goals and punishing corruption as it should be , the
problem may be getting smaller every time . Im going to explain how the U.S Government
works as a community and the characteristics that a discourse community have.
One of the first characteristics that a discourse community must have are common public goals.
The U.S. Government have common goals, the main one is to form a more perfect union, in
order to make this goal work the Government created the constitution that establishes rights and
obligations to the people. The second most important goal is to establish justice, to create an
equal fair nation, give everyone the same right and make sure all people are the same. Another
goal is to ensure domestic tranquility and provide common defense to promote the general
welfare and liberty.

Julia Garcia-Gonzalez 2
Discourse community

The second characteristic of a discourse community is intercommunication, there has to be

communication between all the members of the community to allow the formation of a
community. In the U.S. government all the members of the community interact and have mutual
communication or at least there is someone that communicates and provides all the necessary
information to the higher members. The members communicate with each others by meetings in
big rooms or also small face to face meetings. Communication is very important to a discourse
community for it to work.
Participation is another characteristic that a community needs, all the members should participate
so they can be part of the community and also for the community to work, in government the
participation of every member its very important. A community like the U.S. government
cannot work without the participation of a member for example the president, the whole
government wouldnt be the same. Sometimes there are higher members in the society but
anyways all members are important.
The fourth characteristic is genres. Genres are way of communicating with the community and
the way the community communicates with oother people it is a unique way of communication. .
Some of the genres that the U.S. government have is The constitution and the Bill of rights. The
constitution is a document that exists to keep order and peace, establishes laws and rules which
have a penalty if they are not met. The bill of rights is the first 10 amendments of the
constitution.

Julia Garcia-Gonzalez 3
Discourse community

The Lexis are words used by a community that are commonly only used by them, is a way they
speak and communicates with the other members of the community, normally people know the
meaning of the words but they know they are used in specific communities, in this case the next

words are used in politics and government like Gun control, Parties, Rights, Rules, Need, Justice,
Illegal, Liberty, Democracy, Republicans, Democratic. These are word that are used by the
people of the community of the U.S. government.
The members of expertise are the most important people and the ones that their voice counts on
everything, th higher members of the community. In the U.S. Government there is a lot of
members of expertise, but the most important ones are; The President, the vice president, the
senators, the legislative branch, executive branch. Every member or group form a part of the
community.
In conclusion, A discourse community can be any group of people that share the 6 characteristics
John Swales describe; common goals, intercommunication among its members, participation,
genres, lexis and expertise. This communities have their own way of communicating, speaking,
the way they communicate with different groups of people such as friends, family, classmates or
any other group, how they use different ways of speaking depending on the person they are
trying to communicate with. There is never a perfect community, but most of their problems
have a solution. The U.S government is a good example of a discourse community because it
shares the six characteristics John Swales describe as required. the government is a community
with its well-defined goals that catches my attention because I think it is a community that needs
to be sincere because all citizens depend on it .

Julia Garcia-Gonzalez 4
Discourse community

Reference page
Swales, John. The concept of discourse community. Genere analysis: English in
academic and reaserch settings. Boston: Cambridge UP, 1990. 21-32. Print.
Sources
http://es.slideshare.net/zackgill56/discourse-community