Khaled Almauri English 3080J Mathew Vetter Project 3

The police, a day and night discourse community Academics have categorized people into different communities calling each one of them a discourse community. Each and every discourse community has different lexis, goals, and communication methods. From people serving in the diner right down union street, to huge business men in wall street, they are communities that differ so much. Outsiders, or people out of a specific discourse community would find troubles understanding the mechanism applied in a certain discourse community. For instance, That driver is DWS, many people will not understand what that phrase mean, they will not even realize or determine what discourse community I am talking about. Hence, each discourse community uses a number of tools or mechanisms to deliver a seat of specified and special lexis to accomplish a desired goal. In this course, we have studied a lot about discourse communities. First of all, John Swales, in his article The Concept of Discourse Community talks deeply about the concept discourse community. The author then provides 6 rules that identity a discourse community and how it is different that all the others. He ends by noting that every discourse community changes by time. (Swales). Later on, Paul James Gee, in his article Literacy, Discourse, and linguistics: Introduction explains the discourse community but with a grammatical approach. He explains the discourse community but with a bigger perspective than just language. Gee says Discourses are 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.(pg 6) the author implies that it is not only the language, but it is the way of living, a system of beliefs and symbolism.

When studying discourse communities, there are a lot of them out there, and when I say a lot I mean endless. When I started focusing in choosing a discourse community for this paper I had a hard time to chose which one. There are a lot of communities that I like, that I have more experience on. However, I decided to choose a really effective discourse community, a discourse community that can be described as a net holding our society from falling apart. I chose the low enforcement discourse community, specifically the police. This research would thoroughly examine the police structure, the language they use and what consequence the cops would face if not using the right lexis at the right time, the beginners in this community, and the factors affecting this specific discourse community. On the contrary of the police, the discourse community I chose, many academics have been examining high-educated fields of discourse community. But authors like Tony Mirabelli gave me a motivation to take another turn and do my own research in a filed that I like. Tony Mirabelli, unlike many other researchers, made his research about waiters and waitresses in an Italian restaurant. I chose to talk about Athens Police and Alain Police since my life is settled in these two towns. Location: I have lived three years of my life in Athens, a small town in ohio. I had some interactions with Athens police, a friend getting caught with some weed, another getting caught totally in someones house, or me getting stopped by the cops because I was driving really fast. The other location, Alain, my hometown, the place I was born and raised in. living there for 18

years, I really understood that discourse community, not fully understood, but what is obvious for the public. And even they are the same discourse community; they are totally different in some aspects because of culture differences, and that as the gap I will talk about further in this research. Methods: When I wanted to write this discourse community, the police, I had two major methods to support and build up my research. First of all, my own experience is my first method. I am saying that because I am sponsored by the police to come and study in the United States of America. Being sponsored by the police means that I have been taught a lot about the police and they way they operate. As soon as I got the scholarship the educational division started teaching me about the police, the rules, some terms and what is your responsibility as a member in this discourse community. I also had to go through a training phase to become a lieutenant when I am done with my studies, and that helped me a lot in understanding how the police do their job. Not only that, but as a person living in this world, I have encountered a lot of situations with the police. More over one of my family members is in the office of the general counsel, which also richen my experience a I grew up. The other method is by an interview I conducted with Ahmad Alsahbany, Alains Directorate General of Central Operations that is the father of one my best friends. My friend arranged a Skype meeting between his father and me to answer all my police related questions. He told me about his story with the police, and how he reached this position. He got into the police when he was young, 23 years old. After 25 years working for the police, he climbed the ladder through hard work. Before, he used to do field work, go out there and investigate, how

ever; all he do now, is check on the department he is responsible for. He also creates and study new strategies that help the department. Results: First of all, each discourse community is different that the others by a set of rules. John Swales, in his article provided the readers with six rules to establish a discourse community. Swales say, I would now like to propose six defining characteristics that will be necessary 10 and

sufficient for identifying a group of individuals as a discourse community.

1. A discourse community has a broadly agreed set of common public goals. 11 These 2. 2. A discourse community has mechanisms of intercommunication among its members. 3. A discourse community uses its participatory mechanisms primarily to 4. A discourse community utilizes and hence possesses one or more genres in the communicative furtherance of its aims. 5.In addition to owning genres, a discourse community has acquired some 16 specific lexis 6. A discourse community has a threshold level of members with a suitable 17 degree o f relevant content and discoursal expertise.(P. 471-471) Now lets try and relate these rules to the police. First of all, as of my observations and the interview I conducted, the police members have the goal to stop crime and establish a safe environment to live. They also try to create and acquire a set of rules to accomplish their main goal, a safer environment. The police use a verity of intercommunication methods to connect its members. For instance, they use wireless devices that have a special radio signal that is private for only its member. That method assure privacy and convenient in delivering massages. The members also use written reports to provide a documented illustration of a specific case. The police members have their own set of lexis that they only understand. That discource community also uses evaluation forms, not only between them, but also between them and the people to ensure fixing any conflict or problem. They have certain codes and rules that are related to their

jobs. The new-comers are the new people joining the police. Mainly when the new comers join the police they find troubles adjusting socially to the environment. When I first attended my training period when joined the scholarship I had a hard time learning the rules and doing my job with people who have been here for over 10 years, it was like throwing a piece of wood in a hurricane. I made a lot of mistakes because doing the tasks my own way. In her article explaines that by saying The fact that Alan, a newcomer, used email in ways that oldtimers saw as inappropriate,

and that this use of email caused conflict, is not surprising; after all, newcomers are expected to make missteps. But rather than adapting and changing to communicate more effectively in his new workplace, Alan resisted and clung to his own ways of writing, causing conflict and breakdowns in the community of practice. Members of the department were similarly unwilling to change their view of what they found acceptable in email. (p. 530-531)
The second thing, is adjusting emotionally. When I first got there, I knew nobody, so I had to start making friends. The new comers, including me, started to create a sub- community. After that we started to mix with the old comers. The new comers mainly use engaiging as a mode of belonging. They try to learn the work rules and try to learn from their mistakes to reach the old comers. They also try to make friends from the community old comers to help them with the tasks. The authority in this discourse community is distributed upon your ranking. As higher you get, as much authority you get. For example, a policeman, have authority on civilians only. However, a lieutenant has authority on the civilians and the policeman too. Accordingly, conflicts may occur because of that. For example, when I was backhome, my friend an I got caught for speeding, my friend called a high ranker member of the police, so he told the police

man to let us go. The policeman had to do this, but then made a report and went to court with the member who told him to let us go. Many people think that the police is a place for low-skilled uneducated people. However, I extremely disagree with this stereotype. I meet a lot of educated people in the police. Nonetheless, members of this community, have to study and memories a lot of rules. However, there is one thing to be noted. A discourse community is also a group full of different kind of different sub-communities. For example, I have seen people getting away without a fine, because they know the cop. Yet, I have never been able to do that. My lack of connections, coming from a different culture, or driving a sport car all reason why maybe a cop wont just let me go. Now this kind of differentiation calls for a corrupted system, a corrupted discourse community. Why is it corrupted? Some might ask. As I discussed earlier, all members in a discourse community share the same goals. In my paper, the police is that discourse community. The police share a goal of spreading peace and safety by preventing and punishing law violations. Hence, when a member is dismissing a shared goal, in this case a lot of members, that discourse community is doing its job and that calls for corruption. A discourse community is a group of members sharing the same goals, lexis, and communication methods. Not only that, but a certain life style that they apply. In this paper I have discussed the police as a discourse community. The police member shares a goal of spreading safety and secured environment. The members also have their own ways of communicating through unique lexis and communication methods. Also, new comers always face a challenge when coming into a new discourse community. In the end, any discourse community has sub-communities, which might create corruption especially if it was in the law enforcement communities.

References John, S. The Concept of Discourse Community.Writing About Writing: A CollegeReader.Ed. Elizabeth Wardle and Doug Downs. Boston: Bedford, 2011. 466-80. Print Elizabeth, W. Identity, Authority, and Learning to Write in New Workplaces. Writing About Writing: A College Reader. Ed. Elizabeth Wardle and Doug Downs. Boston: Bedford, 2011. 520-37. Print Gee, James Paul. Literacy, Discourse, and Linguistics: Introduction. Writing About Writing: A College Reader. Ed. Elizabeth Wardle and Doug Downs. Boston: Bedford, 2011.

Skype interview with Ahmad Alsahbany.