Raley 1 Jean Raley Megan Keaton English 111 8 July 2013 Discourse Community Comparison Linguist, John Swales

defined discourse communities as "groups that have goals or purposes, and use communication to achieve these goals". This essay will define and describe two separate discourse communities that the author is a member of and compare them. The reader should come away with an understanding of these two groups, their similarities and their differences. Holy Covenant United Church of Christ (HCUCC) is a denomination of the Christian faith located in Charlotte, N.C. The Christian faith is the theological virtue defined as a secure belief in God and a trusting acceptance of God's will. In this denomination, God is defined as the creator of the world, the universe and the source of all moral authority. Participants include the pastor, youth minister, choir director, church secretary, deacons, elders and some 350 church members over two campuses. A person can be a member of this community as well as a member of all of the above listed positions, not including the pastor. The decision on whom fills these positions and for how long falls onto the members of the church. Members of HCUCC are majority Caucasian and majority female. They are from every socioeconomic background, sexual orientation, gender identity, and education level. Members vary in age from infant to 90 years old. There is no specific dress code, official or unofficial, for membership and that is reflected in the array of dress displayed on any given Sunday. One becomes a member by baptism, profession of faith or transfer of letter. Baptism is a ceremonial immersion in water, or application of water, as an initiatory rite or sacrament of the Christian

Raley 2 church. Profession of faith is a declaration of belief in God and a trusting acceptance of Gods will. A transfer of letter is defined as a letter from the prospective members previous Christian church that they are a member in good standing and that they wish to become a member of HCUCC. The main roles of the pastor are to be the leader and representative of the church in the community at large as well as support, education and inspiration for the members. She also writes and delivers the weekly sermons based on the Bibles scripture. The bible is a sacred book compiled of stories by followers, prophets and scholars of the Christian faith beginning approximately 3500 years ago. The pastor also has a supervisory role for the day to day activities of the churchs paid personnel, such as the church secretary, youth minister, choir director and organist. The youth ministers responsibilities include creating and carrying out programs for the churchs youth (ages 12-19) as well as supervising service projects, social outings and Sunday school classes for the groups participants. The most important aspect in this position is to remain available as an advisor to the adolescents in the congregation. The choir director is in charge of musical selections as they apply to the pastors scripture from week to week. He also recruits singers for the choir, runs rehearsals and ensures that they represent well in the weekly service. Other responsibilities include getting someone to run the sound board and play musical instruments as needed. The church secretary is the person all of the members approach with questions, comments and concerns about anything related to church business. She is the person whose job it is to send out and receive a majority of the forms of communication used in the church. Her tasks also include scheduling speakers, special guests and visitors, coordinating requests for assistance

Raley 3 inside and outside the congregation, organizing church space use and keeping the pastor up to date on the goings on in the church. The deacons and church elders help supply and organize support for those in the congregation that need it. This support could be financial, emotional, spiritual or some combination of the three. It is required that they have been members of the church in good standing for at least five years and have exhibited the principals that are necessary to be of service in the Christian faith which are humility, service and a belief in the tenets of the Christian faith. The job of the church members is to attend and participate in weekly services and tithe money, goods or gifts necessary for the churchs success. Additionally, members should strive to be examples of Christianity, defined in the bible as kind, honest, humble servants of God. Members also are asked to volunteer on any of the committees that serve the church or the community as a whole. Some examples of these committees works are providing snacks for fellowship after service, transporting donations from the church to a food bank, making food for members that are ill or spending time at homeless shelters as representatives of HCUCC. The main goal of HCUCC is to teach people about the love of God as defined in the bible. Holy Covenant also strives to improve the lives of those outside their community that need help, whether it be food, clothing, money or simply an acknowledgement of their existence as a child of God. This church attempts to serve as a beacon and welcoming place for those that the traditional church has shunned or harmed. One genre of written communication used in this discourse community is an open Facebook page. Facebook is defined as a popular social networking website found on the internet by going to www.facebook.com. One must first become a member of Facebook by going

Raley 4 to the website and following the prompts before becoming a member of this communities Facebook page. Prospective members can ask to be included in the group regardless of membership in the church. The communication is organized by Facebook and is submitted as a post to the page. Content can include announcements, invitations, solicitation for volunteers, prayer requests and updates. This content must be relative to the church and its exigencies. Sentence structure is largely grammatically correct and should be easy for the general public to comprehend. The exigencies of this communication are the ongoing need for outreach, information sharing, support and connection for church members and non-members. These exigencies dictate the communication found on this Facebook page by creating a specific framework for the communication. For example, if a member posts an invitation to an online game, they are not adhering to the goal of the group and will be asked to remove the post. On the other hand, a member that posts a prayer request for an ill relative will be supported by the group. Some specialized vocabularies used in this community are the consistory, ordination, tithes and missions. The consistory is a council made up of church members that meet once a month to decide matters such as the hiring of new personnel, church projects, outreach goals and member concerns. Ordination is a process by which a person is served with holy orders to serve the church in the capacity of pastor or minister. Tithes are donations of money, goods and services that ensure the church is able to reach its day to day as well as long term goals. Missions are defined by this church as an individual or group of individuals that serve those in need over a defined amount of time. Missions can be local, interstate or international. An example of the use of these specialize vocabularies is as follow: Pastor Nancy announces the ordination of Joe Caufield to serve the homeless community. Pastor Caufield is requesting that members of the

Raley 5 church please submit tithes in support of his mission work in downtown Charlotte. Any questions should be directed to a consistory member. The rhetors as well as the audience of this discourse community are its members. Because of this, the integrity and the goals of the group are created and upheld by the members themselves. No one person is solely responsible for the group; although the church secretary does act as intermediary between people who may send her information to be added to the group and the group itself by occasionally rewriting the post to make it fit the goal of the community or not posting the information at all because it does not support the groups exigence. The constraints placed on the written communication of this group by Facebook are that the writer must have access to a computer and an internet connection; the message must be typed in the correct box on the page, cannot include bullying or hate speech and cannot go over 63206 characters. The constraints on the communication by the expectation of the readers are that it must be in reference to the church community, it must be easily understandable and reasonably brief. The relationships between the readers are of a shared belief in Christianity and mutual respect for one another. This places constraints on the writing by not allowing the writer to submit anything that would damage that relationship. The fact that the group is public further influences what the members write in that they all want to be a good example of a Christian. A member would not post that they think all Christians are brainwashed because that does not fit within these constraints. In these ways, the context of the discourse, which is Facebook, as well as its audience dictates and shapes what the members write, how they write it and where they share it.

Stupid Things People Say to Veterinarians and Vet Nurses (STPSTVAVN) is a closed Facebook group that was founded by a Veterinary Technician in England in 2007 for Veterinary

Raley 6 professionals to vent after having a challenging day as well as share experiences through the discussion of cases. The terms veterinary nurse and veterinary technician are interchangeable. A veterinary technician is a skilled individual who assists a veterinarian in the performance of their duties, or carry out animal health procedures autonomously as part of a veterinary care system. A veterinarian is a person who is trained to provide medical care for animals. As front office employees are an integral part of the profession and its success, they are welcome in this community as well. Front office staff responsibilities include answering phones, making appointments, client education and keeping the veterinarians and technicians on schedule.

Requirements for membership are current or previous employment as a veterinary professional and the recommendation of a current member in good standing. The approximately 11,000 members are majority female, Caucasian and come from most English speaking countries in the world. The median age is 40. These members can be actively or previously employed in the Veterinary Field. There is no particular clothing worn as this in an online group. Participants include the administrators and the members. There are five administrators in this group. The responsibilities of the administrators include the original creation of the group page, monitoring the page for inappropriate content, responding to questions and complaints of the members, screening prospective members and the expulsion of those members who do not follow the guidelines. To become an administrator, a member must exhibit superior knowledge in relation to their job title by participating in case discussions on the page. They must also demonstrate the maturity necessary to effectively deal with the occasional inappropriate behavior of some members by remaining calm during highly stressful or emotional discussions or disagreements. A prospective administrator is recruited by current administrators when the group numbers increase or when a current administrator leaves

Raley 7 the group. Administrators are considered to be members and are held to the same standards as members. One becomes a member by sending a Facebook Message to the administrators stating their veterinary qualifications and their interest in being a part of the group. A member must follow these rules: No posting pictures that do not refer to a specific case being discussed and pictures must be posted in the appropriate folder. Debate is encouraged as long as one can support their position with sound veterinary knowledge and behave respectfully. Members are not allowed to give or ask for specific medical advice as they are liable for any misunderstood instruction. The importance of the privacy and the respect of this closed group and its members are emphasized to every prospective member. Members are not to share the specifics of what is discussed on the STPSTVAVN page or who is a member with anyone not a part of the community. This communitys genre of writing is also a Facebook page. The constraints placed on the community by Facebook are the same as HCUCC. Further constraints are dictated by the members as they are responsible for the content. This content varies greatly and is driven by the community members contributions. One discussion can begin based on a member writing about losing a patient under anesthesia and end with other members sharing their experiences on the subject. Another post can be a discussion of the brands of uniforms worn at their hospital and everyones input on favorite colors and styles. Yet another post could be about a client that asks ridiculous questions such as how often is monthly heartworm to be given? Sentence structure is not especially important as long as the point the writer is trying to make is complete. All of these specific characteristics of this genre of communication are driven by the community. Since

Raley 8 all the members are the rhetors as well as the audience, they all dictate and shape all of the characteristics of this discourse community. Specialized communications in this community include medical jargon, acronyms, initials and creative curse words. Examples of theses vocabularies are pyometra, eye proptosis, WBC, HBC, BDLD, FOAD, IVC, ass monkey and twat waffle. Pyometra is a common uterine infection of unspayed cats and dogs. Eye proptosis occurs when the eye ball is pushed out of its orbit but still held in by the eyelid. WBC means white blood cell. HBC stands for hit by car. BDLD stands for big dog, little dog; a small breed dog injured by a large breed dog in a fight. FOAD means Fuck Off And Die. IVC stands for intravenous catheter. Ass monkey and twat waffle are creative curse words used by members when humans are responsible for the pain an animal is going through due to neglect or abuse. An example of some of these words is Today a dog came in with eye proptosis due to a BDLD when the ass monkey of an owner introduced a known aggressive dog to his new puppy. Then we had an emergency surgery for a cat with pyometra that was almost impossible to get an IVC into because she was so dehydrated. The owner was a complete twat waffle over the bill and it was killing me not to yell at her that a simple spay procedure could have prevented this. Arg! This day can FOAD. Constraints placed on this group are determined by the group itself. All members understand that when a member vents after a frustrating day, it will likely include curses and words others may deem unkind. It is a given that this is a free forum to speak as one wishes. The fact that it is a closed group further encourages members to be free with their input without fear of backlash form the public. Another constraint for this discourse community is mutual respect of its members. Since they include a mix of veterinarians, veterinary technicians and front office staff, there are varying

Raley 9 degrees of experience and education. What seems obvious to one may be unknown to another. All members want to help each other and sharing information in a nonjudgmental, encouraging manner helps ensure that happens The exigence of the communication used by STPSTVAVN is the need to provide a safe forum that is easily accessible by all parts of the world for its members to vent, share cases and find support from people who can empathize with them in a confidential setting. A group like this is important because of the high rates of job stress, depression and burnout in the veterinary profession. Having a group of people to discuss all the aspects of the job in a safe, nonjudgmental environment gives the members a feeling of community, acceptance and belonging. When comparing these two communities, their differences are the most obvious. Even though it is much smaller, the number of people that have an official capacity in the HCUCC community outnumbers that of the STPSTVAVN group. The STPSTVAVN community is much less formal and much more relaxed than the HCUCC even though there are more concrete rules for them. A post on the HCUCC community page needs to be thought out more thoroughly than the veterinary page because there is a great emphasis on the correct way to behave as a representative of the church while a member of STPSTVAVN is only representing themselves. STPSTVAVN is an international group whereas HCUCC is a local one. These communities do have several things in common. Both groups use Facebook as a communication genre. Both place great emphasis and importance on caring for and advocating for those that cannot care for themselves. Though there is no overt racial exclusion in either group, both groups are majority Caucasian. There is also great importance placed on respect for

Raley 10 all members of both groups. Both groups depend on written communication for outreach ad fellowship. In that way, they both fit the definition of a discourse community.