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Biscouise Communities 0ncoveieu

Chelsie Bazenstab

Biscouise community may seem like a fancy woiu, but when it is bioken uown in to
bite-size, manageable chunks, it will change the way we uefine oui woilu. Biscouise is
using woius to expiess thoughts anu iueas (Neiiiam-Webstei Biscouise, 2u14). A
community, as we woulu expect, is simply a bouy of people. When we put the two woius
togethei, we get a gioup of people that use woius to expiess thoughts anu iueas. While the
complete concept of uiscouise communities is a little bit moie involveu than that, we get
the basic iuea. }ohn Swales, a leauing technical communication ieseaichei anu piofessoi of
linguistics, staits off with a simple uefinition: uiscouise communities aie gioups that aie
uniteu unuei a common goal, anu they have theii own way of communicating to achieve
those goals (Swales, 199u). Swales anu othei ieseaicheis, howevei, uo not just leave the
uefinition at that.
Thiough this essay, we will covei a moie exact uefinition of a uiscouise community,
as well as coveiing some of the ielationships with othei liteiaiy uevices that aie associateu
with uiscouise communities. Even though theie aie many conflicting uefinitions anu
aspects of uiscouise communities, we will be focusing mainly on the ieseaich peifoimeu by
}ohn Swales, as well as a few otheis. Because uiscouise community is such a wiuely
ieseaicheu aiea of stuuy, it woulu be impossible to covei eveiy single aspect anu conflict.
We will, howevei, covei suggestions foi ieseaich that can be uone in the futuie, both on
uiscouise communities anu ielateu topics.
!"#$ &' # (&')*+,'- )*..+/&$01
Biscouise communities aie eveiywheie we look. 0ui eailiei uefinition says that
they aie gioups of people that have a common goal, anu they useu language anu woius to
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unite unuei that goal. If we continue to think about uiscouise communities with a bioau
uefinition, we can concluue that these gioups aie any gioups that we iuentify with. Foi
example, stuuents aie consiueieu a uiscouise community, though they may be iuentifieu as
an acauemic uiscouise community, which some ieseaicheis say is slightly uiffeient. 0sing
oui uefinition, stuuents aie uniteu unuei a specific goal, which is euucation, anu they speak
anu wiite in an acauemic way. Scientists, baseball teams, anu gianuma's knitting club aie
also consiueieu theii own uiscouise communities because they all have theii own common
goal anu theii own language.
0nfoitunately, uiscouise communities cannot be so easily uefineu. Theie aie many
othei aspects of the concept that aie continually being uisputeu, ieseaicheu, anu ievisiteu.
Accoiuing to Swales, howevei, theie aie six chaiacteiistics that uefine a uiscouise
community (Swales, 199u):
1. !"##"$ &"'()* Be fiist says that uiscouise communities must have a common
goal, anu these goals must be agieeu upon, as well as public. Swales explains that
the goal uoes not iefeience a common object of stuuy, but an actual goal, oi
puipose. Foi example, when we useu stuuents as a uiscouise community, theii
common, public goal is to just make it though foui yeais of college, wheieas theii
"object of stuuy" is theii inuiviuual majois. Theie is no seciet agenua of these
stuuents; anu, aftei giauuating fiom high school, most stuuents automatically
entei into this uiscouise community. Fiom a piofessional stanupoint, if you weie
to look at lawyeis as a uiscouise community, they aie uniteu unuei the common
goal of piacticing the law, while theii object of stuuy is unueistanuing anu
communicating the law.
S
2. +,-.'$/)#) "0 1$2,3-"##4$/-'2/"$* Swales says that in oiuei to be a uiscouise
community theie neeus to be some soit of mechanism foi inteicommunication
between the membeis of the community. Biscouise communities use meetings,
newsletteis, emails, blogging, et ceteia, to communicate. Swales' paiauigm that
involves the owneis of seveial cafes biings things into peispective. These
owneis aie all unuei the same common goal, but they aie not all a pait of the
local chambei of commeice. They shaie types of businesses, but they uo not
know each othei anu theie aie no mechanisms of inteicommunication between
them. Theiefoie, the question aiises. Aie they still a pait of the same uiscouise
community. Some woulu say yes because they shaie a common goal, but if a
uiscouise community neeus all six of Swales chaiacteiistics, a uiffeient
conclusion coulu be maue.
S. 5'32/-/6'2"37 +,-.'$/)#)* Swales uses the example of an association senuing out
a monthly jouinal to its membeis. If they uo not open the jouinal oi ieau it, they
cannot be consiueieu as a pait of the community. A uiscouise community
uepenus on the tiansfeiiing of infoimation anu feeuback associateu with the use
of these mechanisms. Foi example, if one was a membei of that same local
chambei of commeice, they woulu be consiueieu in the same uiscouise
community. If they uo not ieau the emails that the chambei senus oi use the
iesouices that the chambei pioviues, howevei, then they cannot tiuly be a pait
of the chambei's uiscouise community because theie is no tiansfei of
infoimation oi feeuback to the chambei.
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4. &,$3,). The use of multiple genies within a uiscouise community is impeiative.
In fact, we will covei the impoitance of genie latei, but, foi now, genies aie how
we achieve the communication anu infoimation tiansfei in uiscouise
communities. Swales says, "these |geniesj may involve appiopiiacy of topics, the
foim, function anu positioning of uiscouisal elements" (pg.26). uioups also have
the ability to 'boiiow' genies anu make them theii own. By boiiowing the
genies, uiscouise communities absoib the uiffeient aspects of othei
communities, which coulu explain why we have things like uiffeient foims of
Chiistianity. Each foim of Chiistianity has auopteu the Bible, which is a
collection of stoiies, piophecies, anu letteis, as a foim of communication anu
infoimation tiansfei, but some ieligions have maue the Bible theii own by
auuing anu subtiacting books. It shoulu be noteu that some scholais, like
Beiman Paul, uo not believe that foims of Chiistianity aie consiueieu uiscouise
communities, but iathei collecteu memoiies of communities (Paul, 2uu7).
S. 86,,-. !"##4$/2/,)* Swales has uone quite a bit of ieseaich on speech
communities, anu in uoing so, he has ueteimineu that uiscouise communities
have theii own types of speech, as well as ways of conveying infoimation. Buiing
Swales' fiist iounu of ieseaich into the concept, he ueteimineu that these speech
communities weie puiely wiitten. Almost ten yeais latei, he ievisiteu this aspect
of speech communities anu concluueu that speech communities can be both
wiitten anu oial (Boig, 2uuS). A goou example of speech communities in action
is jaigon. We have all been theie when someone uses a teim oi acionym that we
uo not unueistanu, like when computei technicians use PBI oi when some
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people look at BTNL anu all they see is a jumbleu mess (Kaltenbach, 2uuu).
While BTNL, hypeitext maikup language, is a language all on its own, much of
the othei technical woius that aie useu in uiscouise communities aie consiueieu
jaigon. }aigon, which will be explaineu a little fuithei latei on, is one of the only
chaiacteiistics of a uiscouise community that can be pickeu out iight away by
someone outsiue of the uiscouise community, meaning you uo not have to be a
iocket scientist to know that a piopulsion system is a fancy woiu foi an engine.
6. 9'7 "0 (/0,* Swales concluues his chaiacteiistics with saying that uiscouise
communities aie often enteieu into at the most elementaiy stages. Noimally,
howevei, theie aie not all novices in the community. Accoiuing to Swales, theie
is a uistinct iatio of novices to expeits that is necessaiy foi the community to
suivive. Be also mentions that leaving uiscouise communities can be haiuei
than one woulu expect. "Biscouise communities have changing membeiships;
inuiviuuals entei as appientices anu leave by ueath oi in othei less involuntaiy
ways" (pg. 27).
In auuition to the chaiacteiistics that Swales lays out foi uiscouise communities, it
is impoitant to mention that "acauemic oi piofessional uiscouise communities aie not
necessaiily locateu in specific physical settings, but iathei theii existence can be infeiieu
fiom the uiscouise that membeis of uisciplinaiy subspecialty use to communicate with
each othei" (Ackeiman, Beikenkottei, & Buckin, 1991). Swales (199u) notes, in one of his
examples, that inuiviuual membeis of a uiscouise community uo not have to evei actually
meet. "The |membeisj nevei gathei togethei physically; insteau a newslettei that has a
paiticulai foim of text oiganization, making it a genie, which they use to puisue theii goals,
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unites them" (Boig, 2uuS). A moie iecognizable example than the one Swales uses woulu
be vaiious fanfiction sites. Nany of the membeis of the fanfiction community aie fiom
uiffeient places aiounu the woilu anu have nevei met. They aie uniteu unuei the common
goal of cieating stoiies foi theii favoiite television show oi book, while using theii own
language at the same time, incluuing acionymns. Biscouise communities know no bounus.
The communities themselves can take on lives of theii own, anu "cast its uiscuisive net
ovei bounuaiies of geogiaphic location, cultuial backgiounu, socio-economic status, anu
even timethe ueau may paiticipate in uiscouise communities if theii iueas anu texts
suivive" (Boig, 2uuS).
It is inteiesting to know, that with all of his ieseaich on uiscouise communities,
even Swales (199u) was not immeuiately accepteu as a full membei of his community (pg.
28). Nany times we entei into uiscouise communities, anu we uo not even know it. By
uefault, we aie a pait of so many uiscouise communities, both piofessionally anu
peisonally, that it is sometimes haiu to keep them all stiaight. A common pioblem foi
many people is the tiansition fiom high school to college oi unueigiau to giauuate.
"Stuuents, it seem|sj, |havej to leave behinu theii home uiscouises anu confoim totally to
the acauemic" (Bizzell, 1999). Like Swales, 'Nate' was tiying to entei into a uiscouise
community in a stuuy peifoimeu by Caiol Beikenkottei, Thomas Buckin, anu }ohn
Ackeiman. The stuuy follows Nate anu his wiiting uuiing his time in giauuate school. Foi
those of us who have gone on to fuithei theii euucation in giauuate school, we have all
expeiienceu the tiansfoimation fiom outsiuei to insiuei. Theie is something to be saiu
having wiitten youi fiist couple giauuate school papeis, anu it takes some time to be fully
consiueieu a pait of the community. Ackeiman et al. suggests othei chaiacteiistics foi
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uiscouise communities, like a "mouel of knowing;" extension of the community; foiums foi
communication, which uiffei fiom Swales' mechanisms of communication; anu initiation
into the community.
The "mouel of knowing" is the ieseaich methouology anu language that the
uiscouise community uses. These aspects of 'knowing' aie encapsulateu within the
community anu must be leaineu. The extension of the community is when theie is ieseaich
anu papeis wiitten with cohoits anu othei univeisities, in the case of giauuate stuuents
that is. In the piofessional woilu, collaboiative woiks aie common; foi example much of
the woik that a chambei of commeice uoes woulu be consiueieu collaboiative woik anu
theieby an extension of the community. The foiums of communication aie not the same as
Swales' mechanisms of communication. Rathei than emails, newsletteis, anu meetings,
Ackeiman et al. use publication souices as the foiums of communication. In theii case,
papeis anu publications aie useu as a way to instiuct, coiiect, anu auapt to the community.
0utsiue of the acauemic uiscouise community, one might finu one of these foiums of
communication on political websites, wheie membeis, oi potential membeis, expiess theii
opinions anu theie is a uiscussion oi uebate. Finally, Ackeiman et al. explains that, in the
case foi giauuate stuuents, theie is an initiation into the uiscouise communities. While
hazing is not impossible, Ackeiman et al. uses "the ieauing anu wiiting they uo, thiough
instiuction in ieseaich methouology, anu thiough inteiaction with faculty anu with theii
peeis" (pg. 19S), as the initiation into the acauemic ieseaich community. Looking outsiue
of the giauuate school example that Ackeiman et al. uses, the initiation step shoulu be
similai. Foi example, when a peison fiist staits at a company they must show a ceitain
amount of woithiness befoie they aie accepteu into the community; sometimes that
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woithiness is the amount of yeais one has been theie, oi even the completion of a big
pioject, like a majoi couit case.
Swales, howevei, is not the only ieseaichei that has uone extensive ieseaich on
uiscouise communities. Patiicia Bizzell, a piofessoi at College of the Boly Cioss (Bizzell,
2u14), has uone extensive stuuies on uiscouise communities anu what affects them oi the
effects they have on the inuiviuual membeis (Bizzell, 1992). Politics have a veiy conflicting
effect on uiscouise communities. 0n one hanu they can pull the membeis apait when they
uo not agiee oi align themselves with the same political paity. 0n the othei hanu, these
politics, if that is what unites them unuei a single goal, can biing the inuiviuual membeis
togethei. Noieovei, Bizzell explains that the politics can have a whole othei effect on
uiscouise communities. Nany times, the politics aie not in teims of iight anu left wing, but
in teims of a powei stiuggle. Theie is a hieiaichy of powei in a uiscouise community, anu
"|sjomeone will always be ieauy to exeicise what Baviu Baitholomae has calleu a 'ihetoiic
of combination' (198S), biinging oppositions into jaiiing contact that geneiates a new
iuea" (pp. 2SS).
Fuitheimoie, uiscouise communities can affect the inuiviuual membeis
socialization anu his oi hei success. Bizzell says that ".in a uiscouise community, shaieu
conventions of language use affect|sj social status, woilu view, anu woik" (pp. 9). When
you take what we have alieauy saiu about uiscouise communities, this make sense, but it
will make moie sense once we incoipoiate jaigon. Anothei aspect of uiscouise is the
qualifications to be able to speak in the uiscouise community (Poitei, 1986). Biscouise
communities have "shaieu conventions of language use |thatj affect social status, woilu
view, anu woik" (Bizzell, 1999). These conventions of language can ueteimine the social
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status (high oi low) within the community. Nany, incluuing Bizzell, maintain that the iuea
of uiscouise communities aie unfaii, but theie is little that anyone can uo to get iiu of them.
Bizzell uoes, howevei, piouuce a hybiiu way of teaching within uiscouise communities,
insteau of the natuial 'sink oi swim' paiauigm that many ieseaicheis have applieu to
uiscouise communities (Bizzell, 1999).
2&')*+,'- 3*..+/&$&-' #/( 4#,5*/
}aigon is the technical teim foi that technical speech that uiscouise communities
use in theii eveiyuay language. 'Biscouise community' in itself is jaigon foi the technical
wiiting anu ihetoiic community. Since the concept of uiscouise communities is so
multifaceteu, an explanation of the concept woulu be lacking if it uiu not incluue jaigon.
Consiueiing that membeis of a community tenu to have inteipeisonal ielationships, they,
theiefoie, tenu to shaie infoimation anu language with each othei. This concept is known
as 'shaieu knowleuge.' This shaieu knowleuge incluues moie than just the knowleuge of
the fielu that the uiscouise community iesiues in (Stygall, 1991), anu the use of shaieu
language too. Swales intiouuces the use of jaigon in his six chaiacteiistics of uiscouise
communities when he talks about speech communities. While theie aie othei aspects of
speech communities, jaigon is the main component; anu, quite possibly, it is the most
impoitant.
Some ieseaicheis of jaigon take a much moie ielaxeu appioach to the uefinition of
uiscouise communities, but auu moie to the iuea itself, like Ciistophei Bioyles, a uoctoial
stuuent at Texas Tech 0niveisity. Be uses a much bioauei uefinition of uiscouise
communities, saying that, "|pjeople who inteiact togethei anu iegulaily exchange iueas
constitute a uiscouise |communityj" (Bioyles, 2u11), but he pioposes that theie aie seveial
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levels in uiscouise gioups. Biscouise communities unueistanu the language anu woius that
they speak, but outsiue of the piimaiy uiscouise community, otheis unueistanu in uiffeient
uegiees.
Theie is the piimaiy uiscouise community, which is the inuiviuual membeis
themselves; anu foi oui example, we will look at botanists on a college campus. Then theie
is the extenueu uiscouise community, which just outsiue the piimaiy uiscouise
community. The extenueu uiscouise community knows the woikings of the piimaiy
uiscouise community, but they aie not insiueis. An example of the extenueu gioup woulu
be the iest of the biology fielus. They know most of what the botanists aie talking about,
anu they unueistanu most of what goes on, as well as the jaigon, but they may not use the
same mechanisms of communication, like botanist-specific, acauemic jouinals. Aftei that,
theie aie the fiist-uegiee outsiueis. Fiist-uegiee outsiueis woulu be the people that aie in
othei fielus, like the iest of the science, technology, engineeiing, mathematics (STEN)
fielus. They can ieau anu keep up with the goings-on of the botanists, but they may not
unueistanu the jaigon the piimaiy uiscouise community uses, noi woulu they publish
aiticles in the same types of jouinals. Seconu-uegiee outsiueis aie people who aie not in
the STEN fielus anu they uo not unueistanu the language anu jaigon that is useu in the
piimaiy uiscouise community, but they shoulu be able to follow along. A goou example of
this gioup woulu be the iest of the colleges. They aie a familiai with the acauemic language
anu familiai with ieauing the 'genies' (e.g. case stuuies, ieseaich theses) that the piimaiy
uiscouise uses. Finally, theie aie thiiu-uegiee outsiueis. These people have no iuea what
the jaigon means, noi uo they know the genies oi the concepts that the piimaiy uiscouise
community aie tiying to convey (Bioyles, 2u11).
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When we unueistanu these uegiees of uiscouise communities, it can help ieuuce
the amount of communication complications that occui between them. Foi example, the
0niteu States goveinment is in one uiscouise community anu its citizens aie in anothei.
Theie aie many communication issues between the 'people' anu the 'man,' anu pait of this
pioblem is because the goveinment is using teims anu language, not to mention genies,
that people outsiue of theii uiscouise community uo not unueistanu. While this is also a
pioblem of with genie, not communicating oi wiiting with the iight auuience in minu, it
can leau to moie pioblems if the uiscouise community's goal is to woik with othei
uiscouise communities outsiue theii own.
}aigon can sometimes make the uiscouise community (Kaltenbach, 2uuu), even
though, in some cases, uiscouise communities aie foimeu aiounu the jaigon that has
pieviously been establisheu. Some of the fiist online uiscouise communities weie
uevelopeu aftei the jaigon oi at the same time the jaigon was cieateu. Foi example, with
the cieation of the Auvanceu Reseaich Piojects Agency (ARPA) in the 196us, online
uiscouises weie liteially foimeu simultaneously with the ARPANET. The APRANET was the
fiist email system to be cieateu anu conveisations weie immeuiately moie ielaxeu. They
still hau theii business jaigon, but with the new invention, a new language was foimeu.
Latei on uown the online, evolutionaiy path, in the late 197us anu eaily 198us, the bulletin
boaiu system (BBS) was cieateu. BBS gave way to a whole new uiscouise community when
the oiiginal uiscouise community split in two. To uistinguish themselves fiom the oiiginal
uiscouise community, the seconu uiscouise community cieateu theii own jaigon. When the
online uiscouise communities neeueu to have "'netiquette' stanuaius," yet a new uiscouise
community foimeu. The Inteinet, as we know it, was foimeu in the 199us anu may quite
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possibly be the laigest uiscouise community to evei be foimeu. It is impoitant to note,
howevei, that "Swales |piesentsj seveial ieasons why speech community is not a
significant notion foi socio-ihetoiical puiposes, all of them tieu to the fact that socio-
ihetoiical uiscouise community must be ielational in the way that speech community is
not (199u:24)" (Nillei, 2uuS b). This means that jaigon by itself lacks the social aspect of
uiscouise communities anu cannot stanu alone.
Biscouise communities can sometimes iun into pioblems with jaigon. Sometimes,
many communities can use the same jaigon. The woius will be the same, but the meanings
of the woius can mean something completely uiffeient. The woiu 'hackei,' foi instance,
means two uiffeient things uepenuing on which siue of the legal systems the community is
on. Anothei example woulu be the woiu 'bean.' To a biologist oi a botanist this woulu mean
the seeu piouuceu by a legume. If we weie playing baseball, howevei, the pitchei woulu
have just puiposefully thiown the ball to hit the battei. Theie aie also times when theie aie
woius useu that seem to have univeisal uefinitions. Biscouise communities ".sometimes
use woius that aie fiee of any univeisal uefinitioneven within theii own uiscouise gioup
oi uiscipline; theie is some uegiee of 'unueistanuing' amongst the uiscouise paiticipants as
to what these woius mean, but, by anu laige, the inteipietations aie highly subjective."
(Bioyles, 2u11). These aie woius aie haiu to finu, but Bioyles uses woius like 'auveise'
anu 'cause.' The community anu even outsiueis geneially know what these teims mean, but
theie still might be some question to the meaning.
Some uses of jaigon in a uiscouise community cannot be helpeu. Biscouise
communities, like the legal community have no othei option but to use the jaigon that
comes with theii piofession. The pieviously mentioneu shaieu knowleuge helps membeis
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of uiscouise communities to tianslate the jaigon in legal texts. These texts have to use
these thick phiases anu woius iepetitively so that theie aie no loopholes. Loopholes leau
to oveituineu iulings, which uefeats the community's common goal to upholu the law. uail
Stygall (1991) says that theie aie no goou oi bau legal texts, even though people outsiue
the uiscouise might not unueistanu it. Pait of this pioblem will be auuiesseu latei when
we talk about genie.
Continuing along the same vein, uiscouise communities aie not necessaiily bau, anu
theie is a uistinct uiffeience between goou anu bau jaigon (Biist, 2uuS). It all uepenus on
how the jaigon woius aie uefineu anu if they aie uefineu foi the uiffeient auuiences. Russel
Biist says that jaigon is not bau, but it is eithei bauly useu oi bauly foimeu. Be continues to
say that we shoulu not tieat all jaigon the same anu that jaigon can ieally be bioken uown
into what he calls the language of communication. This language of communication uoes
not span to just the English language, but to all uiffeient languages, making it moie uifficult
foi those outsiue of the uiscouise to unueistanu. Theie aie ways to ieuuce the amount of
jaigon in communication, like ieuucing phiases, getting iiu of iepetitions, anu oveily
complicateu woius (Biist, 2uuS). Theie aie moie fun ways, howevei, to get iiu of jaigon.
Some acauemic uiscouise communities, especially in the STEN fielus, make theii stuuents
explain simple concepts, like how plants use sunlight, as if they weie talking to elementaiy
school chiluien. Some may see this as counteipiouuctive since we take so much time to
leain the jaigon in the fiist place. Biscouise communities may not be able to get iiu of
jaigon in its entiiety, but Bioyles says the fiist step to ieuucing the amount of jaigon a
uiscouise community uses is to iecognize they aie using it anu consiuei theii auuience.
2&')*+,'- 3*..+/&$&-' #/( 6-/,-
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}aigon may be the impoitant technical woius that uiscouise communities use, but
the genies that uiscouise communities use aie just as impoitant. uenie is yet anothei teim
we must tackle that uoes not have one soliu uefinition. uenie, in the liteiaiy sense, is
noimally uefineu as a liteiaiy uevice that has a specific content, language, anu foim
(Neiiiam-Webstei uenie, 2u14). Caiolyn Nillei (1984)
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, anothei populai ihetoiician, auus
that genies must also be "uefineu by similaiities in stiategies oi foims in the uiscouises, by
similaiities in auuience, by similaiities in moues of thinking, by similaiities in ihetoiical
situations (Nillei, 2uuS a). Nany ieseaicheis, howevei, bypass the tiauitional uefinition of
wiitten genie to uefine it as foims of language that have specific ioles. Foi uiscouise
communities, genie is the lifebloou that keeps all of the inuiviuual membeis togethei, anu
the ioles of genie aie constantly changing. "uenies oiganize anu geneiate the exchange of
language that chaiacteiize what we aie iefeiiing to in this essay as uiscouise communities"
(Bawaishi et al., 2uuS).
Nillei has also saiu that the social natuie is the common link between genie anu
uiscouise communities. She says that, "a classification of uiscouise will be ihetoiically
sounu if it contiibutes to an unueistanuing of how uiscouise woiksthat is, if it ieflects
the ihetoiical expeiience of the people who cieate anu inteipiet the uiscouise" (Nillei,
2uuSa, pp. 21). Classifying uiscouises by genies is chaiacteiizeu by thiee factois:
semantics, syntactics, anu piagmatics (pp.21). Semantics is the actual meaning of the woius
that the genie uses, wheieas sytactics is the foim that the genie takes, like Swales'
mechanisms of communication. Finally, piagmatics is the puipose behinu the genie that is

1
Caiolyn Nillei oiiginally publisheu this aiticle in 1984.
Nillei, C. (1984). uenie as social action. :4'32,3(7 ;"43$'( "0 86,,-. 7u (1984) pp. 1S1-67. Nillei, C. (1984). uenie as social action. :4'32,3(7 ;"43$'( "0 86,,-. 7u (1984) pp. 1S1-67.
1S
being useu. Nillei uoes continue to say that theie is moie than one way to classify
uiscouise, but this social natuie of genie causes pioblems in the classification piocess.
Without the genies, uiscouise communities woulu not be able to complete two of
the chaiacteiistics of Swales' uefinition, besiues genie: the use of mechanisms of
inteicommunication anu the use of paiticipatoiy mechanisms. The pioblem with genie is
veiy similai to the pioblem of jaigon. Both uail Stygall (1991) anu Amy Bevitt (2uuS) have
taken a familiai pioblem with genie anu put it into the peispective of uiscouise
communities. Legal uocuments, specifically juiy instiuctions in these cases, aie haiu foi
people outsiue of the legal uiscouise to unueistanu. These instiuctions aie foi the juiy, but
they aie also foi the lawyeis anu juuges. Stygall points out that we infei that the piinciple
function of these legal texts is to be a simple tiansfei of infoimation fiom the law to the
people. In ieality, these specific texts "cannot be 'impioveu' without unueistanuing why
lawyeis continue to wiite what oiuinaiy ieaueis consiuei unieauable texts.the uemanus
of the legal community's uiscouise conventions always take pieceuence ovei the neeus of
oiuinaiy ieaueis" (Stygall, 1991, pp. 2S4-2SS). She goes on to explain that genies, like
those that aie in the legal uiscouise community, must fiist seive the community, oi the law
in this case, anu then the people. Bevitt auus that, "the legal communityanu oui society
neeus these uistinctions, establisheu by law anu pieceuent, to be maintaineu" (Bawaishi et
al., 2uuS). Bevitt also says that it uoes not mattei how eloquently wiitten these texts aie, it
will still be impossible foi oiuinaiy uiscouise communities to unueistanu with the jaigon
they must use.
It is not only the language that is haiu to unueistanu, but many times the foims aie
haiu to tianslate. Anothei example Bevitt uses is the example of tax foims. "Suipiisingly,
16
many genies aie uesigneu within one specialist community foi functions to be filleu by
nonmembeis of that community" (Bawaishi et al., 2uuS). Bevitt goes on to say that this is
why many times the tax foims that aie cieateu by the IRS foi the people aie often taken to
accountants, who woulu be consiueieu the extenueu uiscouise community. uenies can leau
the pioveibial hoise to watei when it comes to uiscouise communities, but it cannot make
them unueistanu.
Finally, genies have also been calleu the "ihetoiical maps that chait familiai oi
fiequently tiaveleu communicative paths." (Bawaishi et al., 2uuS). All of these genie
paths leau outsiueis into the community, while showing them how to paiticipate anu
become an insiuei (Nillei, 2uuS a). Nillei also says that genie is so much moie than just a
liteiaiy foim; it is a iealistic anu ihetoiical social action. uenie is not just a simple aspect of
uiscouise communities eithei. Swales says that ".genies belong to uiscouise
communities." (Swales, 199u). In a way, genie takes away the inuiviuual membeis' iights
to be able to change the foims of communication (Nillei, 2uuS b).
7+$+,- ,-'-#,)" *8 (&')*+,'- )*..+/&$&-'
While it seems that theie have been hunuieus of stuuies on uiscouise communities
anu theie is not much left to stuuy, theie aie always new aspects to covei in uiscouise
communities. Not only aie theie these new aspects, but like the ieseaich uone by Nillei
anu Swales, theie aie always plenty of aspects that can be ievisiteu anu put into uiffeient
views. Consiueiing that this essay woulu nevei be able to complete a full compiehensive
stuuy on uiscouise communities, theie is plenty of othei ieseaich that we coulu have
lookeu at ielateu to uiscouise communities. We biiefly mentioneu Russel Biist anu his
woik with uiscouise communities anu jaigon, but theie is an oppoitunity to covei moie
17
giounu on jaigon anu uiscouise communities in othei languages. uenie analysis, which is
Swales main aiea of stuuy, is also an expansive subject on its own.
3*/)9+'&*/
Biscouise communities can be uefineu simply as the gioup of people with which one
shaies a common goal, but as we have coveieu, theie is a lot moie to that uefinition. The
next time you ieau a jouinal aiticle that uses the jaigon that you uo not unueistanu,
iemembei to take a step back anu think about what is happening. You aie enteiing into a
uiscouise community anu aie leaining a whole new language. Eventually, theie will come a
time when all of the jaigon anu genies will make sense anu you will see youi uiscouise
community in a whole new light. We must continue to ieminu ouiselves that the social
natuie of uiscouise communities is what keeps the community fiom falling apait, anu
uiscouise communities coulu not exist if not foi jaigon anu genie.
18
!*,:' 3&$-(

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