Discourse Community Map

Danner Pacheco
University of Texas at El Paso

Writing is the process of arranging words in a way that will make sense to our
intended audience and will communicate the information we are trying to get across. It is
logical to assume that everything we write can be understood by a person who speaks the
same language in which we are writing in. However, this is not the case. The message you
send to your best friend might not convey the same meaning if your parents were to read it,
or vice versa. Depending on who your audience is and what social circle of your life they
belong to, your writing changes accordingly. These circles are known as discourse
communities, and in this essay I will describe how my writing varies in four of them:
family, professional, civic, and academic discourse community.
I was born into my family. That is why I have the privilege of belonging to this
discourse community. The only way to become a member, besides being born as one, is to
marry someone inside the community. We talk in between cousins, uncles, aunts, siblings,
parents, and grandparents; all of my family members are part of the audience. The purpose
of writing within this community is to keep in touch with family, informing each other
about relevant news or reunions that are being planned, and talking about our daily lives.
Because of the informal setting and the trust we have in one another, we are free to discuss
almost any topic we want, as long as we keep it clean, of course. Subjects such as the
weather, food, music, gossip, school, work, and relationships are amongst the commonly
discussed topics. As I said before, we try to keep the conversations clean, which includes
the language used in said conversations. And, in spite of the relaxed setting, we still have to
be respectful to each other. Another practice we have is writing concise and short messages;
if the message is too long you might as well call. These are the unwritten rules we follow
when writing in this community. As for specialized language, words such as, La bodega,
pelon, flojo, mano,and bigoton, are important in our writing. For example, my brother and

father have the same name, which is why I refer to my father as bigoton, meaning
mustachioed men, and to my brother as mano, short for the Spanish word hermano.
Thanks to this we avoid confusing situations. The media we use the most is text messages;
they are fast to write and we are sure to get a quick response.
In contrast to my family discourse community, email is the most used media in my
professional discourse community at Grupo Pacheco. The reason for our use of email is that
we need proof that instructions were sent to other parties involved, a kind of insurance.
Schedules, to-do lists, and memos are some of the used genres of writing employed. The
purpose for my writing is to inform and communicate changes to projects and designs as
well as requesting approval and discussing future projects they might have for me.
Coworkers are my main audience, however, I also have to communicate with the directives
and other branches of the company as well as the representative from Yellow Pages and
other small companies in charge of producing our designs. The topics I personally discuss
range from changes to a logo design to the deadlines of projects such as posters and
invitations. My area of work deals with the digital creation of content; therefore, we use
specialized language to communicate effectively. Words such as, Pixels, hue, megabytes,
and .PSD file are commonly used in the work I do. We use this language because it is
specific to our needs, and it is easier than describing each element in simpler words. For
example, if someone needs to print a design in high resolution, they would have to ask for
the raw version of the file that can be scaled and modified; otherwise they would end up
with a pixelated image. There is not a specified set of rules to follow within this
community. However, it is known that we have to be respectful and very clear with our
message, or else there can be misunderstandings that could lead to a badly done work. You
have to apply to get a job there by turning in a job application and taking several aptitude

tests. Or they might contact you if you offer a service they need. Thankfully, you do not
have to prove yourself physically as I did for my civic discourse community.
To join the soccer team at Tec de Monterrey you first have to be enrolled in the
school. Then have to attend try-outs were they physically strain you until you cannot walk;
it is hard to become a member of this community. This is the most relaxed discourse
community I have belonged to; it was mostly composed of friends. Therefore, the tone was
extremely informal and there were no guidelines for our communication. Insults and bad
words were allowed as long as they did not go too far. The trainer and my teammates were
the only audience, and our topics were mainly about training sessions, game tactics, current
events in the soccer world, and how much we hated running. In this community we wrote to
inform and discuss, and we used text messages to do so. The specialized language we used
was related to soccer tactics: marking, tackle, wall pass, box and advantage rule are
some of the words we. For example: Danner, you have to mark the attacker closely,
especially when he is in the box. This would translate to: Danner, you have to stay close
to the attacker, specially when he is near the goal area. The language seems a bit
complicated, but it is nothing compared to my academic discourse community.
Compiling refers to process of turning written code into something the computer
can understand at its most basic level. Syntax is the language we use in English to write
code. Debugging means looking trough errors in your code and fixing them. These are
examples of the specialized language we use in my CS1401 class. The topics in this
community include: current assignments and projects, homework due, lectures, and
questions we might have. To discuss these topics we use blog submissions; we have a
website were all the members of the class can upload questions and answers for their
classmates and professors. Occasionally we use emails to ask for more specific information

in case the blog posts are not helpful. The audience includes other students in the class,
professors, and teacher assistants. Informing, questioning, solving problems, and getting
help are reasons why we write in this discourse community. When writing for this class you
have to use a semi-professional language, be very clear with what you say and ask for, be
respectful at all times, and do not use inappropriate language. Not following this guidelines
can result in people not listening to you, and in extreme cases, you could be expelled from
this community. To be a member, you have to go trough several steps. First, apply to the
University of Texas at El Paso; this includes successfully completing admission tests. Then,
you have to a pre-calculus class, and pass it. Finally, if you are enrolled in Calculus 1, you
are permitted to enroll in CS1401.
Every discourse community as characteristics that makes them unique and different
from one another. We must keep this in mind whenever we are writing something. What
should the tone be? What kind of language can I use? Who is my audience? Why am I
writing? We must take into consideration these questions when we write, and we should
write appropriately, using language pertaining to our discourse community.