The idea that there are various forms of language is evidence that we are divided and connected by ways of registers and genres. According to Barton, registers are simply the uses of speech language in different situations. Depending on the context of the environment and audience, there is a sense of adaptation to the language used in order to best fit the conversation. When I’m around older people and young children, I do not use profanity. Around my friends, I can let slip a few expletives once in a while. Perhaps it is easier to think of it as the jargon shared between a particular group like lawyers, doctors, or even teenagers. While registers involve oral communication, genres shape the language, as Barton indicates, by using the form of writing. Such genres of the written language include poetry, news articles, novels, and even classified ads.
These two together contribute to a larger sphere of language called discourse. Because discourse is the combination of the two divisions, its definition results from how one uses the language shared by individuals of that particular community. New discourses are created by piecing together parts taken from a person’s existing registers and genres (Barton 75). The discourse is diversified by the modification of the user’s registers and genres in the changing environments. Barton discusses further that discourse is not limited only to social interaction but also to behavior and setting which is a person’s ‘way of being’ (Barton 75). It is the language of a community that influences and is influenced by the participants of that group.
“A discourse community is a group of people who have texts and practices in common” (Barton 75). Discourse communities intertwine depending on the intended audience, the actual audience, or the oral and textual participants. What you learn in one community can transfer or be useful in another community like having a behavior and using the language of professionalism on campus and in the work room. Using this definition, you can infer that there are tighter and looser communities. Not knowing the newest of slang words can alienate a person wishing to join a hipster group. The different uses of the text can include or exclude the reader through the uses of specific language. It can either be more accessible or more restrictive depending on the intention of the writer. However, the producer of the text is not the only one who can give meaning through the text. Reading, as well as writing, is an interactive activity that gives the reader an opportunity to extract meaning from the text. The interpretation can also rely on a person’s background or identity. An imaginative child reading Lewis Carroll’s’ Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass would approach it differently than a forty year old realist.
Having some form of communication is important to the survival of perhaps every single species. Language is an enormously important part of our lives as humans. Communication is healthy, encouraged, and necessary. Barton states that “language mediates our experiences…The view of language which we construct internally is influenced by the language we have available…Language mediates thought and it contains the metaphors we live by” (Barton 84). Everything is organized by language especially knowledge. Does how we speak reveal our identity? If I rhymed like a rapper, would you think I am one? I am not so sure; I’m just you asking a question.
James Gee’s Literacy, Discourse, and Linguistics: Introduction and What is Literacy? highlight some of Barton’s main points about discourse and language. In the first reading mentioned, Gee agrees with Barton when he says “It is not just what you say, but how you say it…It is not just how you say it, but what you are and do when you say it” (Gee 5). By agreeing with Gee, I could say that language is too limited in its function. It forgets the bodily reaction and beliefs of the speaker and audience which is significant to the discussion of literacy. Communication involves very much an appropriate behavior to the situation in which one is placed. However, that doesn’t make language is invaluable. There is just a sense of displacement of attention to what is truly considerable to the literacy discourse.
Gee discusses further his concept of Discourse which is defined by a thing much greater than language. The “saying (writing)-doing-being-valuing-believing combinations” make up Gee’s outline of Discourse (Gee 6). It involves much greater elements including that of a person’s attitude, diction, and philosophies. You can even consider the physical movements of a person while they are speaking. Gee calls this the ‘identity kit’ of a person which affects how someone thinks, talks, and acts (Gee 7).
Gee divides Discourse into separate degrees of socialization. First, there is the primary Discourse which is the foundation of an identity created by the early interactions of the self and the world. It is the identity of the home that is carried to different Discourses throughout our lives. The Discourses that are later acquired out in the social networks of the public sphere are known as secondary Discourses. These include developed Discourses ranging from places such as the jobsites to churches to bars. Each of these will have their own Discourse developed by the members of the community which can be passed on to future participants wishing to join.
There are also subgenres of Discourses known as dominant Discourse and nondominant Discourse defined by Gee on page eight:
Dominant Discourses are secondary Discourses the mastery of which, at a particular place and time, brings with it the (potential) acquisition of social “goods” (money, prestige, status, etc.). nondominant discourses are secondary Discourses the mastery of which often brings solidarity with a particular social network, but not wider status and social goods in the society at large.
Discourses can be developed through many different ways by many different people. Like Barton, Gee acknowledges the overlap and the possibility of exclusivity/inclusivity of the Discourses.
From this discussion, Gee defines literacy as “the mastery of or fluent control over a secondary Discourse” (Gee 9). This includes speech acts and writing competencies. The definition becomes problematic for teachers because of the misunderstanding of how secondary Discourses are acquired. On page twelve, Gee clarifies this standpoint: “even though Discourses cannot be overtly taught, and cannot readily be mastered late in the game, the University wants teachers to overtly teach and wants students to demonstrate master.” This leads to the ‘mushfake Discourse’ on page thirteen which is the “partial acquisition coupled with meta-knowledge and strategies to ‘make do.’” Because of the impossibility of instruction and learning of secondary Discourses, the attempt is a failed but almost successful quality of Discourse integration.
What is Literacy? discusses in depth the philosophies of discourse. Five notable elements to consider about discourse is 1) “Discourses are inherently ‘ideological’ 2) they are “resistant to internal criticism and self-scrutiny” 3) “Discourse-defined positions from which to speak and behave are not. However, just defined internal to a discourse, but also as standpoints taken up by the discourse in its relation to other, ultimately opposing, discourses” 4) “Any discourse concerns itself with certain objects and puts forward certain concepts, viewpoints, and values at the expense of other” thus marginalizing the opinions and beliefs of other discourses 5) They are “intimately related to the distribution of social power and hierarchical structure in society” (Gee 19).
Acquisition and learning is our means of survival, our ways of gaining knowledge in order to be able to function successfully in society. There is ultimately a struggle of power in the differing parts. Whereas “acquisition is good for performance, learning is good for meta-level knowledge” (Gee 21). Acquiring particular skills of a discourse only allows a person to perform the role but not actively engage in the community. Meta-knowledge provides a person with the comprehension important to literacy practices and the distinction of discourses that allows the person to be comfortably situated in a changing environment. The more social institutions are open for someone to learn this knowledge, the better the opportunity it is for someone to enter a discourse community.
Barton and Gee dive into interesting ideas of literacy and discourses. From Barton’s perspective, language is important to the contribution of discourses, registers, genres. Gee goes beyond that and considers the entirety of social interaction to include physical movements, intimate values, and personal beliefs. Gee also goes into further detail about acquisition, learning, and teaching and the contradiction of the educational system by discussing the concept of secondary discourses.
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