1 Sierra Zarate Ms.

Laura Martinez ENC 1101-0005 1 April 2013 How Lexis Plays a Role in the UCF Softball Club I walked up to the field, not sure what to expect. I scoped out the two softball teams and figured out which one was from UCF. I couldnt find my friend but the other girls knew exactly who I was and what I was there for. They introduced themselves and showed me where I could sit to observe. When I walked into the dugout, I saw equipment everywhere-gloves, bats, helmets, and some catchers gear. Everything was covered in clay, and I felt a little out of place in my khaki shorts and flip-flops. The girls were all talking about the opposing team and what they were going to need to do to win. They seemed pretty confident in the game that was about to begin. When it was time, they all went out onto the field to begin warming up. The discourse community I have been observing the past couple of weeks is the UCF Club Softball Team. The first way I observed them was by attending a game, which was in Plant City on Saturday, March 23 at 6:00 PM. I decided to sit in the dugout during the game because I was told by several of the team members that that would be the most up-close and personal way to see them. I would get a behind the scenes look at the girls and what went on other than on the field. On Wednesday, March 27, I attended a team meeting being held after a practice, which started at 6PM. I also conducted an interview with one of the team members, which I will explain more in detail later.

2 In order to describe what exactly a Discourse is, James Paul Gee defines it as a ways of being in the world; they are forms of life which integrate words, acts, values, beliefs, attitudes, and social identities as well as gestures, glances, body positions, and clothes. It is a sort of identity kit, which comes complete with the appropriate costume and instructions on how to act, talk, and often write, so as to take on a particular role that others will recognize. This is a perfect definition to describe the group I studied. Everything they do identifies them as a unique group of individuals sharing a common goal. For them, the common public goal is to win the World Series, which is the highest achievement for a club softball team to make. In addition to this common goal, some of the members have their own personal goals, like being a starter or improving a certain skill. This idea of having individual goals in addition to the one common goal is very common in discourse communities. The team also has its own modes of communication including a Facebook group and team meetings after every practice. There is a President and Vice President who lead the team and make decisions like who is going to play what positions and the batting lineup. Both of these factors support and fit the criteria John Swales came up with for a group of people to be considered a discourse community. These include having mechanisms of intercommunication among its members and has a threshold level of members with a suitable degree of relevant content and discoursal expertise. However, it was the way in which this discourse community met one of Swales six criteria that I found most interesting. After all of the observing and interviewing was over, the one thing about this club especially stood out to me was the lexis. My most valuable observations were made

3 while sitting in the dugout during the game I attended. I took notes and recorded some parts, and majority of both consisted of this unique sort of language that the girls used. They would say certain things at certain times of the game, or use certain hand signals to communicate with each other that nobody else knew except for them. For example, at the bottom of the first inning, the girls were on defense, meaning they were in the field while the other team was batting. The third baseman shouted, Infield go 1, outfield shoot 4 on the ground. Then the first baseman repeated this same thing. To me, this sounded like Chinese. Then I remembered Swales discussion on discourse communities and lexis and it all made sense. The fifth of criteria Swales lists in order for a group of people to be considered a discourse is, In addition to owning genres, a discourse community has acquired some specific lexis. He goes on to define lexis as a sort of unique language a community possesses. It is a language that uses lexical terms that are often times puzzling to outsiders, Swales says. The terms and language used is relevant to the common goals of the community. This directly relates to the things I began to hear the girls shouting out and the signals they were sending each other. I, the outsider, was clueless as to what any of it meant, but they all knew exactly what was being communicated. This is because this was their lexis, or language, that they used on a day-to-day basis. As the game went on, I discovered tons of other signals, signs, and statements that I did not understand, while everyone on the team seemed to. Some of these included protect the plate, be a lead off, tough with two, start it off, turn it, and way ahead, your pitch now. The girls and their coach used this sort of language to

4 communicate with each other throughout the entire game. I knew they were trying to get some particular message across through each statement, but I wanted to know specifically what and why they used the terms they did. I brought up this language during my interview, since I found it so interesting and wanted to know more about it. I interviewed a girl named Caitlin, who is a freshman at UCF, therefore making this her first year on the team. When I asked her why they spoke the way they did during the game, she told me that they used it for many different reasons. She said, A lot of the time we shout things while were playing defense to let all of the girls know what is going on, how many outs there are or anything thats important for everyone to know. Sometimes we just say things to get each other pumped up, or just to give some positive reinforcement after a good hit or play. Its like a rally, someone is always saying or shouting something to someone. I went on to ask her how they all knew what to say and how they learned all of the different terms, because if I were to join this team I would still have no idea what any of them were saying. Having played softball for the past ten years of her life, Caitlin said she just knew everything from being exposed to it for so long. She said all of the other girls on the team had prior softball experience, so they knew a lot of the terms and sayings from there as well. In order to be on the team, you have to attend a tryout in which they test your softball skills. Someone with no softball experience at all would not stand a chance on making the team; therefore meaning anyone on the team has prior softball experience, and has already been exposed to the lingo.

5 After talking to Caitlin, everything I had observed and heard made much more sense to me. The things they were saying were indeed for specific reasons, all which were intended to lead them to victory. However, they ended up losing the game, which, ironically, Caitlin thought had a lot to do with improper communication. This goes to show that if it is not used correctly, or if members of this group dont pay attention to the lexis, it can hurt them and get in the way of achieving their goal. The fact that lexis goes hand in hand with achieving the common goal goes to show that this is, indeed, a true discourse community. The UCF Club Softball team was very interesting to observe, and I definitely learned a lot of new things through this group. Going into it as an outsider, I felt very reclusive and curious about many of the things that I heard and saw. Feeling so secluded from this group further proved the fact that this was a discourse community and I was not a part of it. It would take me years to be able to be a member of such a group, which is the norm for most discourses. After doing this project, I can now successfully recognize and asses discourse communities, which can one day benefit me when wanting to join one.