John Swales Concept Of Discourse Community Summary

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The Concept of Discourse Community

In “The Concept of Discourse Community”, John Swales tries to outline a definition of a discourse community. Swales argues that there are several differences between a “speech community” and a “discourse community”. He later sates there are six major characteristics for a group to be a discourse community. Swales then gives an outline on what does a discourse community and what parts make it up. Swales begins his argument by addressing on all the major past definitions of what a discourse community is and what they are and how they differ from speech communities. Swales classifies a speech community as a group that shares similar linguistic goals. Swalls later quoted “A community sharing knowledge of rules