Discourse Community - Assignment Example

Dis Community Dis communities are communities which involve the usage of language in their everyday activities. These activities are particularly very important for the discourse communities and without the usage of language the activities cannot be completed or done. Language in the discourse community is used in a specific manner which only the individuals themselves can understand. The particular discourse community which is being discussed here is a coffee shop known as the Starbucks. Individuals here particularly emphasize on the usage of language this usage is particularly different from the other communities existing in the society. The language comprises the norms of the community and without proper language a community would not be able to survive for long. Through the use of this language particular communities are recognized and if the language usage diminishes the communities would not have a particular difference. Starbucks is a multinational which is spread all over the world and the language usage in this multinational is the same all over the world. Throughout its course in the world one can notice that the way the employees communicate in the shop is almost the same. Through the usage of language the community not only makes its own place in the society but it also creates lines for differentiating the communities from each other. The employees working in Starbucks use their own language styles which the other normal individuals would not be able to understand. Through the usage of language stereotyping can clearly be done in between the employees and the normal individuals of the society. The usage of language in Starbucks can also be said to be different than the usage of language in other multinationals. This stereotyping and exclusion of other communities from one community can make it isolated and because of this discrimination can also take place. For e.g. any new individual who joins Starbucks may not be able to understand the usage of language fully and thus he may be discriminated in his own 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. The employees working in the coffee shop use all these aspects of language to compose a proper environment within the community. Specific words and phrases that can only be understood by the community members are used by the employees to carry out a particular action. An example can be cited here the communication between two employees in which one of the employee has to tell the other that he has to make two coffees for the customer. In doing so the employee who has to deliver the message would probably just use the code words of “two best coffees”. This code can only be interpreted by the employees of the coffee shop whereas the outsiders would not know what the phrase best coffee stands for. Similarly here the employees can also use a gesture of two fingers to tell the other employee which type of coffee does he need. Moreover any employee who is working to maintain the environment of the coffee shop would be careful when expressing his thoughts or concerns in front of the customers. For example if this employee finds out that the coffee machine has some problem then he would not directly approach the employee on the counter and tell him so directly, but here the employee would use code wordings to make him understand that there is some problem in the coffee machine. Thus it can be said that phrases, gestures and words are very important in communicating within a particular community. Without these words phrases and gestures one would not be able to carry out the normal processes within a community effectively. An incident in the Starbucks can be considered here which involved the proper usage of communication between the employees. Once the coffee shop was stuffed with customers and the coffee machine started having some problems. Here the employee who found out the problem could not disclose it openly to the other employee that the problem had arose. So the employee who found out this problem came to the other employee and started conveying the message. The employee who was conveying the message told him that that “he needed help with the unloading of packages outside”. The employee on the counter however did not understand the code language and told the other employee that he was busy. Here the employee who was conveying the message made a gesture with his hand which helped the other employee to clearly understand the situation. And because of this gesture the employee on the counter left to help him in fixing the coffee machine. Nowadays more and more communities are developing all over the world. It is not true for only the businesses but it is also true for every particular group in this world. All these communities involve both the usage of language and the usage of gestures too. Non verbal communication is an important part of communication and in the communities all these types of communication take place. Non verbal expressions are gestures, facial expressions and signs. In Starbucks the usage of gestures is a common way of communication between the employees. When a customer orders something it is not unusual for the employees to convey the order of the customer to the other employee by using the gestures and facial expressions. Through these gestures and facial expressions the employees also tend to inform the other employees about any problem that may be with the order or the internal environment. It can be said that the usage of language is an important tool of communication in the communities and any community lacking this tool would not be able to survive for much long in the society. Read More