Discourse community defined

Most people, on any given day, move between and within several communities. They encounter their families, their neighborhood, their friends, their immediate colleagues, practitioners of their profession both local and national, people who share recreational or entertainment interests, and people who share their geographic area. In each community, there are conventions about what can be talked about, what gets assumed, and how one can talk about different things. These conventions shape a discourse community.

There are also likely to be some guidelines—formal or informal—regarding who gets to join the discourse community. As we encounter a new profession, however, we don’t know the rules, the conventions, or the traditions yet. (Thanks to Professor L. Brady for this material: http://www.as.wvu.edu/~lbrady/202discourse.html)