HEE stockwott ae In this article, Swales says thet the definition fer discourse communities is not a very detailad definition and that it is somewhat open to interpretation. He goes on to discuss the differences and similarities betwean and discourse community and a speech community He makes the argument that having a stricter definition for a speech community would not eliminate the need to have a more thorough definition of a discourse community. In the article, Swales also talks about a set of six characteristics that he beleves are all that Is needed to determine whether a group of people Is in fact a dscourse community or not. These characteristics help to distinguish between what is and is not a discourse community. They also help to apply the knowledge of a discourse community to things in your own life. For ‘example, the topic that | am going te be writing about in this class is a career in the stock merket. The stock market itze'f is a discourse ‘community because it adhoros to tho six charactoristics that Swales lays out. 1) A broadly agreed upon set of common public goals. Evaryone knows that the goal af the stack market is to invest your money or someane else's money into companies that you will be able to ‘sell for a higher amount later 2) Mechanisms of intercommunication among its members. One of the main ways that people in the stock ‘market communicate is on Wall Street. Tons of people meet there every day to talk business or make investments. There are also other forms of communication lke the Wall Street Joumal and other business magazines and new'spapers. 3) Uses its participatory mechanisms primanly to provide information and feedback. In order for people in the stock market to actually Know what Is happening, they need to keep Lup with the current status of the market and meke predictions about what will happen next. They do this either by checking on the internet, looking in newspapers or watching TV. 4) Ltilzee and posseases one er more genres in the communicative furtherance of ite aime. There ‘are many types of genras in tha stock market. The most obvious one is in the name, a stack. People buy and sell stocks on the stock ‘market. Who knew? Another type of ganre in the stack market might be 2 loan. I'm nat entiraly sure i this counts or nat though. 5) Has acquired some specific lexis | think anyone that has tried to watch a stock raport on TV knows that the stock market has a special lexis ‘Temis like NASDAQ and DOW JONES are two examples that many people might recognize. 6) A threshold level of members with a suitable ‘degree of relevant content and scoursal expertise. Anyone Is able to trade on the stock market. There are many people who are professionals and have college degrees te help them do this, but there are some people with litle experience as well. ‘Swales, John. "The Concept of Discourse Community.” Genre Analyeie: Engliah in Academic end Research Settings. (1990) : 21-32. Print.