Discourse Community Analysis - Assignment Example

The language used in neighborhoods is quite different from other discourse communities. The neighborhood community which I am going to discuss here is of my childhood which brings back my thoughts about how I developed as a mature individual. It was through our usage of language that people knew as to which neighborhood we belonged to. Language comprises an important part of the daily communication sector between individuals. If languages for specific discourse communities were not recognized then it would be completely impossible for individuals to segregate communities or to identify them.

The language which I am going to emphasize in this essay revolves around me and my fellow childhood friends who were my neighbors. The language that we used in our neighborhood was clearly understood by our members only and if any outsider intruded in our territory it would be quite difficult for him to grasp the original meaning of our words. A common philosophy was made in our neighborhood as to who should be taught our norms and who should be not. Although new neighbors were welcomed by us in the neighborhood but it took them sometime to get settled with the new discourse community.

By usage of language here it is meant that all the aspects of language ranging from minute to the broad ones are being considered here. These aspects of language can include words, gestures, phrases and facial expressions. We the children of our neighborhood had specific nicknames for our friends. In our language these friends were called ‘buddies’. Not only was language verbal only but it also consisted the broad factors of appearance. We had specific sort of signs in our appearance which helped the other ‘buddies’ to recognize us.

As one of my neighborhood friend was called ‘Cappy’, it denoted that he always wore a cap. And similarly a friend