Running Head: OF LANGUAGE AND GENRES
Of Language and Genres:
An Analysis of the Geological Community through Language and Writing
Student A
Wayne State University
ENG3010
30 October 2012
1
OF LANGUAGE AND GENRES
2
Abstract
Joseph Harris and Ann Johns, authors of critical analysis of discourse communities’ journals,
guided the solutions to project one’s research questions. Through Harris’s definition of
repositioning and the large geological network provided through coding, it had showed the
necessity of the adaptation and borrowing of geological and other discourse languages. Levels of
Communities had also revealed that specific discourses are responsible for such borrowing and
the discrepancies of similar lexis. Observations from an interview, a genre analysis, and a site
observation support these claims that the competing and various discourses support the
geological community and based on the language can hinder or evolve the discourse.
Keywords: repositioning, Levels of Community, lexicon, geological network,
OF LANGUAGE AND GENRES
3
Table of Contents
1.0 Methods……………………………………………………………………………..4
1.1 Interview………………………………………………………………………...4
1.2 On-Site Observation……………………………………………………………..4
1.3Rhetorical Genre Analysis ……………………………………………………….5
2.0 Coding Process……………………………………………………………………...5
3.0 Results……………………………………………………………………………….6
3.1 Overlapping Discourses is Critical to Our Work………………………………...7
3.2 Vocabulary of Various and Competing Discourses become “Our Language”…..8
3.3 Complexity of Using Non-stable Vocabulary…………………………………....9
4.0 Works Cited...............................................................................................................10
OF LANGUAGE AND GENRES
4
1.0 Methods
To collectively examine the congruency of the geological lexicon and the engaging nature of the
geology field with other scientific backgrounds like chemistry and physics, I had to collect three
different secondary and primary resources. A genre analysis, an interview and an on-site
observation will help me determine the repositioning skills of language and genres throughout
discourse community and the complications of an ever evolving language.
1.1 Interview
My interview was with Dr. Sarah Brownlee who had gotten her Ph.D. at University of California
Berkeley, one of the top schools for geology. She works at Wayne State University as an
assistant professor teaching Structural and Introduction into Geology courses. Sarah is a
relatively new teacher, this semester she will be completing her first year as an assistant
professor. After her completion of her doctoral dissertation, she tried a couple months in
consulting before she realized it wasn’t for her and started looking for something in academia.
During her interview in her office, I focused majority on the types of genres and the format they
display, the language, and the professions that intermingle with the discourse of geology.
1.2 Rhetorical Genre Analysis
For the genre analysis, I focused primarily on scientific journals; I picked three journals on a
specific subject, zeolites, and compared them. Although scientific journals have specific
guidelines on the format, it’s relatively flexible to incorporate selective data. For an example,
“Unstitching the Nanoscopic Mystery of Zeolite Crystal formation” the journal focused on
OF LANGUAGE AND GENRES
5
laboratory data and had included sections on the experimental methods. On the other hand, the
other two focused on the applications of the laboratory data to specific areas and the effects on
that area by including a topic on regional setting. Scientific journals almost always have multiple
authors because the research takes more than several years to complete and needs the
coordination of several different communities. Along with the several authors the research is
always headed by one or two Ph.D. or senior specialists. These genres are specific for additional
research and aims at audiences proficient in the subject.
2.0 Coding Process
After I collected all my data, it was time to sort it into comparable units by forming them into
categories. Using the category guidelines from Sharan Merriam’s article “How to Analyze
Qualitative Data,” I began by open coding my primary and secondary resources separately. With
my small charts of each, I actually had to go back and add more data from my original sources
and then form a master list incorporating all the duplicated information. After the completion of
my master list I formed subcategories by the repeating patterns of information and linked them
into three broad categories: geological vocabulary, genres, and professions. With these three
main categories and more specific subcategories I am able to easily draw out information useful
to answer my research question.
In addition to comparing the categorized data from my resources, information from previous
readings of John Harris and Ann Johns, will also help answer my research question. I will be
able to relate my discourse with the different Levels of Communities and how repositioning is
essential but can be complicated through unstable language. The three topics that will be covered
are:
OF LANGUAGE AND GENRES
I.
II.
6
The overlapping of Discourse Communities is critical to the work of a geologist
The importance of repositioning and the borrowing of various and competing
discourses’ vocabulary forms the geological language.
III.
The importance of the ever changing vocabulary due to modern discoveries and
inconsistent usage.
3.0 Results
The content included is formed from the data of an interview, an on-site observation and a genre
analysis with the uniting analysis of discourse terms Levels of Community and repositioning.
3.1 Overlapping Discourses is Critical to Our Work
Geology is the study of the earth, which consists of earth’s lithology and its internal mechanisms;
however what many people don’t realize is that this discourse can encompass all the activities in
our daily lives and thus all communities. In my interview with Dr. Brownlee, I had questioned
her on the diversity of professions that she personally came in contact with that connected with
geology. For the question, she had given up all of the scientific community: the chemists, the
biologists, the physicists, the environmentalists but had also mentioned the engineers and the
doctors. She had only briefly touched on the massive network of professionals that are in
common with geology. Geology is everywhere, from the time I wake up and brush my teeth; I
find that quartz, a mineral, is the main ingredient in my toothpaste. In the paint, carbonates, and
drywall, gypsum, the locating and harvesting of minerals for building materials is part of the
geology community. The architectures, the manufactures, the builders all have a hand in the
geological discourse. Overall, the geological discourse is “not just two coherent and competing
OF LANGUAGE AND GENRES
7
discourses but many overlapping and conflicting ones…” quoted by Joseph Harris, the author of
The Idea of Community in the Study of Writing (21). He agrees that any discourse, not just the
geology, must function with others in order for its survival through repositioning, a term coined
by Harris. Repositioning is the way of adapting to different communities simultaneously, instead
of leaving the community completely. This is useful for the geology discourse because of the
large network it branches out to.
In accordance with the “overlapping and conflicting” communities, the broadness of geology can
be subdivided. Ann Johns, the author of Discourse Communities and Communities of Practice:
Membership, Conflict, and Diversity, dived into the diversity of discourses by categorizing them
into levels of a communities. The function is to visually group the more specific discourses under
the broader ones to determine not only the language and the ladder of evolution, but the path of
repositioning. The difficulty of this is the borders of the specific discourses are indistinct and are
often traveled. This is seen by the participants of the on-site observation, the diversity of the
scientific community at a geologic seminar shows that the topic has come out in multiple specific
communities. Also displaying this feature are the multiple author’s affiliations in the genre
analysis, they come from a wide variety of specific discourses. A geologist must be proficient in
his/her specific level of community along with several interconnected communities through
repositioning. Knowing how large the network geologists come from will form patterns through
these discourses to compare the overall language used.
3.2 Vocabulary of Various and Competing Discourses become “Our Language”
The consequence of indistinct boundaries of the geologic community with others leads to the
distribution and sharing of the geological language. This also constitutes the sharing and
OF LANGUAGE AND GENRES
8
adapting of other discourses languages to the geological lexis. This is shown by the coding
assignment where a broad category is of the geologic lexicon. In the coding, there are
subdivisions of the broad geological lexicon category that incorporated languages from other
discourses like physics and chemistry. For an example, coding from my on-site observation
revealed vocabulary I consider to be more physics oriented than geology although geology has a
specific discourse that deals with isotopes. Terms like particle erosion, radioactive, radionuclides
are shared from the physics discourse. As well as terms like lead, beryllium, cesium, and
uranium are shared between the chemistry discourse and the geology discourse. Even the
secondary resource, the genre analysis, displayed vocabulary from other discourses interwoven
in the geological scientific journals. Repositioning of different communities had probably lead to
this factor adapting terms from other discourses to communicate better between such discourses
to accommodate students and others into a new language.
The difficulty of the various and competing discourse vocabulary interwoven into the geological
lexicon and genres is distinguishing them from our own separate geological vocabulary. In my
interview with Dr. Brownlee, she had compared the introductory class in geology as a
vocabulary class specific to geology lexis. In which, the terminology learned for the class is vital
in passing and learning for future geology classes. The separation is deemed on early learning of
the language and on how the teacher or student understands the terms.
3.3 Complexity of Using Non-stable Vocabulary
Most of the time geological terminology is the same in both communities because of the shared
purpose and effect of the definition is the same. Alternatively, as other discourses adapt to the
geological language to fit their own needs, it causes a discrepancy between the different
OF LANGUAGE AND GENRES
9
geological terms. The question came up in my interview and Dr. Brownlee agrees with the
varying terminology; however she feels that this will forever be the norm, there will never be a
fixed set due to varying context and new modern discoveries. For an example, where in geology
the definition of certain soils and bedrock have to be very detailed, engineers, on the other hand,
do not need the details as long as the message of the stability of the soil/bedrock is conveyed in
order for building to proceed and may borrow the general terms. The problem is when there is
given feedback using the same term from the engineer discourse, the knowledge of that specific
term may be lost from one community to the next. In addition to the adaptation of terms, new
lexis is added because of new discoveries. New minerals and processes are always being
discovered and new terminology is being added to the geological list.
The solution of such discrepancies can be found in geologic field and scientific journals. The
genre analysis of the journals give as much detail with the term that it gives other geologists the
opportunity to make their own assumptions and based on their own assessment change it
accordingly to their own ideals. This causes scientific journals to be greatly detailed with
qualitative data wedged into every sentence. An instance where detail is inserted with the term is
in identifying metamorphic rocks. From identifying slate to phyllite to higher metamorphosed
material the boundary of the grain size of the rock is blurred, therefore whenever a rock is
labeled the grain size is always found with it to help define the rock.
4.0 Works Cited
Brownlee, Sarah, Personal Interview, October 17, 2012.
Harris, Joseph. “The Idea of Community in the Study of Writing, College Composition and
Communication,” Vol. 40, No.1. (Feb.,1989). pg 11-22.
OF LANGUAGE AND GENRES
10
Johns, Ann M. “Discourse Communities and Communities of Practice: Membership, Conflict,
and Diversity.” Text, Role, and Context: Developing Academic Literacies. Cambridge,
New York: Cambridge UP, 1997. pg.51-70. Print.
Matisoff, G. (2011). “Use of Fallout Radionuclides in Studies of Particle Erosion, Transport and
Deposition.” Handbook of Environmental Isotope Geochemistry. pg.487-519.
Merriam, Sharran. Qualitative Research: A guide to Design and Implementation. How to Analyze
Qualitative Data. John Wiley & Sons. Apr 6, 2009.