"Literacy, Discourse, and Linguistics"

In the article “Literacy, Discourse and Linguistics” James Paul Gee discusses the constant “tests” of discourse communities. In these tests members of the community test a person to see if the person is a “native” or “non-native” to the community. This can cause strain between primary and secondary discourse communities. But in many cases a primary discourse community has been influenced by a secondary discourse community. I can attest to this being true in my life when looking at my discourse community of my house here at Ohio University as my primary discourse community, but it is influenced by my secondary discourse community, twitter. Much of the language my 6 room mates I pick up on is funny stuff we pick up on twitter. We all have a twitter account and follow each other so twitter talk is often discussed within the house. This influences the way we communicate with each other via text message or even face to face.

            Another point I think Gee is making is that to be accepting and kept in the discourse community, you have to be shown that you are in the loop. On page 487 Gee states, “Social Groups will not, usually, give their social goods to those who are not native.” This emphasizing that these tests are the “gates”, as Gee calls them to getting in and staying in the discourse community you belong to. Gee discusses how superficial language can be and I agree. I think the point he is trying to make is discourse communities can go back to economic class, which can seem superficial indeed.