There are many types of discourse languages that are discussed in our daily lives that

we as human beings are not familiar with. In the article "The concept of Discourse Community"
by John Swale, argues about the social nature of language used and argues about what a
discourse community is and how it is different from a speech community. Swales defines the
term discourse community as, the relevant point in the present context that has been
appropriated by the 'social perspective', that language use in a group is a form of social
behavior, that discourse is a means of maintaining and extending the groups knowledge and
irritiating new members into the group. In my essay I will be talking about the discourse
communities that happen at the store Target and at a Budweiser beer distributing company, L&F
Distributors. I will be doing research on the different languages that are used in both companys
and how depending on the situations their language change. I will also be providing
specific examples of my observations from the two companies and will provide supporting
details from the articles, "Rhetorical Situations and Their Constituents" and "The Language and
Literacy of Food Service Workers".
In The Concept of Discourse Community, by John Swales attempts to establish the true
definition of a discourse community. Swales argues that there is a difference between a speech
community and a discourse community and that there are six defining characteristics for a group
to be a discourse community. He then gives an example and discusses further issues regarding
the concept of a discourse community. To begin his argument, Swales touches on all of the past
definitions of what a discourse community is. He goes on to distinguish the difference between a

discourse community and a speech community. Swales identifies a speech community as a

group that shares similar linguistic goals, similar use of language, or both as quoted by Hymes,
a community sharing knowledge of rules for the conduct and interpretation of speech, which
also relates to the article that I will be talking about later in my essay The Language and
Literacy of Food Service Workers by Tony Mirabelli. Back to talking about Swales article, one of
the six defining characteristics that make a group a discourse community is that a discourse
community has a broadly agreed set of common public goals. Which this relates to my topic of
the store Target and company L&F Distributors, because all of the employees, which at target
are considered team members, have a common public goal and that is to help the guests at
the store find what they are looking to purchase and keep them happy. On the other hand, L&F
employees have a public goal as well and that is to deliver the beer to their assigned accounts
on time to keep the customer happy. A discourse community has mechanisms of
intercommunication among its members, which also relates to my topic. At Target all team
members are provided with a walkie-talkie to be able to communicate among themselves and
L&F employees are provided with cell phones to communicate with other employees and to
contact the owners of the accounts. A discourse community uses its participatory mechanisms
primarily to provide information and feedback. Target members use their walkie-talkies to
provide information to each other whether it is to contact the backroom team member to check
for an item or to contact their managers. They also provide positive feedback by recognizing
each other for example, Id like to recognize him/her for providing the first Target Red Card of
the day. L&F employees in the other hand, use their cell phones to contact their bosses, which

are known as salesman, or to contact owners of their assigned accounts to get information on
what time it is right for them to stop by and make the delivery. Discourse communities utilizes
and hence possess one or more genres in the communicative furtherance of its aims. At the
Target lanes there is only one team member as a cashier, unless it gets really busy for the
cashier and calls for back up. When they need back up the lane that the employee is on has a
button to click that a mechanical voice sends a message over to all the team members walkietalkies additional cashiers to the front lanes which is a genre and a form of lexis. L&F
distributors have the same program in place but instead of a push of a button they communicate
the information through the cell phone for assistance. In addition to owning genres, a discourse
community has acquired some specific lexis. And last but not least, a discourse community has
a threshold level of members with a suitable degree of relevant content and discourse expertise.
In other words, there should be a reasonable ratio between experts and newcomers. Target and
Budweiser employees have a certain professional way of speaking to their customers that they
dont speak at home. For example, Target employees go up to the guests and ask can I help
you find something? and Budweiser employees ask This is him/her from L&F Distributors how
may I help you?. All the information I just provided on my topics are also reflective to the article
The Language and Literacy of Food Service Workers by Tony Mirabelli.

The discourse community that Mirabelli is exploring is that of waiters and waitresses in
diner restaurants. His purpose for examining this discourse community was to disprove the
theory that the level of literary and verbal skill needed to be a waiter or waitress compared to

that of a ninth grade reading level. Mirabelli goes on to describe that in this discourse
community the genre of the menu functions in this discourse community as the key text used
for most interactions with the customer and, of course, the contents of menus vary greatly from
restaurant to restaurant. The genre of the menu functions greatly in this discourse community
because it is a term of communication between the waiter/waitress and the customer. By
knowing the menu and being able to analyze how every time of food is cooked it allows the
waiter to be able to answer questions asked by the customer so that they may order that type of
food. For example, when one of the waiters at Lous, Harvey, was asked what pesto was and
answered that he was unable to explain what it was because he had never worked in an Italian
restaurant before, it resulted in the customer not ordering it because Harvey was unable to
describe what it was. Which goes backs to my topic on Target of the team members helping out
the guests find what they are looking for to purchase and keep the guest happy. Knowing how to
understand the menu and how to answer specific requests greatly affects this discourse
community because without knowing how everything operates it can result in a loss of customer
satisfaction as well as a loss in profit. Another example would be a mother asking a special
request for carrots instead of mixed vegetables for her son. Since Harvey did not know that it
was possible to obtain just carrots it resulted in him taking too long to find out as well as the
mother canceling the order because everyone had already gotten their food. Which also relates
to Target and Budweiser employees on keeping their guests and customers happy. The genre of
the menu also allows for the waiter/waitress to be able to describe certain foods and use magic
words that would result in the customer wanting to order that dish, which also goes back to my

topic on target employees pressing the button for a mechanical voice to let other team members
know they need assistance at the front lanes and Budweiser employees using their cell phone to
make a phone call for assistance. Such an example of this is when Tony is asked to describe the
difference between scaloppini and scaloppini sec. By using words such as marsala wine green
to describe the sauce it is in, it interests the customer to decide to order the veal scaloppini.
Understanding the menu allows for the waiter to have control in a position in which the customer
asks the waiter to make his own decision on what the customer should order. The menu in a
discourse community of a diner restaurant is a very important factor that creates communication
between the waiter and the customer. The genre of the menu such as no description of the
dishes, using elaborate words, or words in a foreign language all result in the waiter having to be
able to interpret the menu using his verbal skills as well as his literary skills and to be able to
understand the menu as well as the factors surrounding it that could result in having to answer
questions not states in the menu. For example, claims that due to changes in the social and
economical environment, schools too must begin to consider language and literacy education in
terms of multiliteracy, which is defined as modes of communication extended from printed text
into both verbal and non-verbal, like something unique about how waiters use language and
literacy in doing their work.

Going back to my two communities Target and L&F I observed that they are both similar
and different in their communication practices depending upon their situation. For Target I
observed that providing the guest with the proper assistance makes you, the employee, more

valuable, which also includes and is similar to Budweiser employees delivering to their assigned
accounts on time. The difference between the both communities is that Target is a store that is
more family oriented where the team members are constantly in communication among each
other through their walkie-talkies. Budweiser in the other hand, is more self-oriented do to the
fact that you are sent out by yourself to deliver their product in other markets like Target, bars,
gas stations etc. Depending on the drivers situation is when communication falls into place.