Communicating In Tight Spaces
Being in a car for an extended period of time can be difficult, especially when all you want to do is get out to the sight of your destination. Cars are not large spaces, especially when you have a full family and luggage crammed in. It is not wild to suggest that cars are not the most comfortable form of transportation. Anyone would want to take a ride on a large and spacious boat over a car. However, we can’t sail everywhere we want to go and the reality is that cars are much more convenient than large boats. Another added bonus of cars is that they can travel over land, where as boats are stuck to the sea. Even though we would all like to see ourselves traveling in the most luxurious ways, most of the world is stuck traveling by way of car.
Considering the small size and compactness of cars, there has been an interesting use of language within those who travel by car. Cars seem to break down the barriers of communication and expand it to a much more meaningful way. In common language, there’s a lot of nonsense, there are extensive elaborations that serve to expand one’s ideas in way that is elegant and graceful. However, the moment you enter a car, even Shakespeare is brought down to a much more utilitarian language form. By analyzing this discourse community, the boundaries of language are pulled under the microscope and investigated. You may think tat you know all there is to know about language and communication, but after this, you’ll see there is much more to it than you thought.
Although this may not look like a discourse community, Ann M Johns mentions six characteristics of discourse communities that will help prove that it is a discourse community. The first characteristic of a discourse community is that there is “a broadly agreed set of common goals” (Johns). In terms of long car rides, getting to the destination is the ultimate goal that everyone wishes to achieve. The second characteristic is that the discourse community has “mechanisms of communication among its members” (Johns). There are three mechanisms of communication that the people use, linguistics, music and movies as platforms of conversation. Each medium for communication has its own purpose and is used for specific purposes. The third characteristic that describes a discourse community is that “[it] utilizes and hence possesses one or more genres in the communicative furtherance of its aim” (Johns). Some genres are much more prevalent than other, but the two most important genres are logistical and necessary. Each of these genres acts as representations of the human. The fourth characteristic states, “[It] uses its participatory mechanisms primarily to provide information and feedback” (Johns). People in long car rides will use the genres as ways to transfer information back and forth. The fifth characteristic reads as follows, “In addition to owning genres, [it] has acquired some specific lexis” (Johns). The particular lexis of long car rides consists of words and acronyms like “woui” or “shisma”. The last characteristic of discourse communities is that “[it has] a threshold level of members with a suitable degree of relevant content and discoursal expertise” (Johns). In the case of my family during long car rides, they make up most of the lexis. Also there are novices and experts in terms of those who participate in long car rides. Because all these characteristics apply to the community of long car rides, it proves that the long car ride discourse community is valid.
I had the opportunity to investigate this particular discourse community when my family took a car ride from Ohio to South Carolina last winter. We decided we would be making this trip to celebrate the New Year. The overall length of the trip was around 12 hours, so during that time, I was constantly exposed to the discourse of the community. Since I was already enculturated into the community, I was in the unique position of being able participate and get special insight into the community. Also note that there are many groups of people that make long car rides and their discourse may be different. Trying to observe the discourse of all people during a long car ride is completely impractical and unfeasible. Therefore, it was best that I simply observe the discourse of my family, as we drove down to South Carolina. No notes were taken, so everything is being recalled from memory.
Because there are many personalities and groups of people that may have a particular discourse, the particular lexis and register of my family on a long car ride will be unique. There may be some shared aspects between my family and yours, but for the most part, my family will be very distinct. The example I gave above, “woyi”, is an acronym that stands for, “Watch out you idiot”. Whoever the driver is will be the one to angrily yell this out in the middle of the car ride. The register is intense and informal because it means that some other driver on the highway was being stupid and possible endangering lives. Driving can be a very frustrating task, and when a cocky or inexperienced driver makes a impulse decision, it can be very aggravating. This is understandable because on the highway cars go very fast and danger is always present. The other particular word, a made up word “shisma”, is a word used for various occasions. It is a transition word that is meant to change the subject or note a weird occurrence. For instance, if there is a conversation going on and a joke is made, you may say Shisma! Another example is when you are talking about a delicate subject and you want to change it, you will say shisma. The use for this word is very diverse and may be hard to understand. This strengthens the reason why it was so important for me to be enculturated, so that I can understand the word. The register for shisma also varies. When it is used because of something uncomfortable, the register is very delicate and nice. When it is used in a fun way, the register is much more exciting and entertaining. Because of how strange and peculiar lexis is used, the barriers of language are broken.
Besides the particular lexis and register of long car rides. There are three essential mechanisms for communication. The first and most prominent mechanism is simply talking. Talking is the most important mechanism because it wastes the most amount of time. There are many things to talk about as well. Talking helps with long car rides because it keeps your mind occupied rather than worrying about how much longer there is to go. One of the genres that keep the family talking is a current event. Current events help because it allows us to get into deep discussion, further distracting our minds from the length of the trip. One of the greatest aspects of talking about current events is that more often than not, it somehow applies to everyone. If I were in a car right now, I could start a conversation about the presidential candidates. This allows everyone to exchange their opinions and general information about the candidates, which could serve to update everyone’s mind on the details of each candidate, further educating our minds. Another topic of conversation that works really well to passing the time is talking about what you are going to do when you get to your destination. You can about what restaurants you want to go to, certain people you might want to see or general goals for your trip. By talking about what you want to do you can formulate a plan to execute when you get to your destination. This mechanism will also fill up a lot of time and make the car ride go faster. By serving many purposes, this mechanism for communication makes it easier for people to exchange ideas and thoughts.
Music is the second mechanism that is used to communicate. Many kinds of music can be utilized to effectively communicate to everyone in the car in various ways. If the trip is starting early in the morning, like my family’s trip last winter, you can play softer music that will help you ease into the day. This tells everyone to quiet down and let the day slowly get into the swing of things. If you play music that’s too loud or chaotic, it can be a shock to the system and you’ll find that your day will be more uncomfortable, especially when you play it too early in the morning. It could also serve as a way to energize the car. If you feel that you would rather be more awake or if you want to animate those in the car, music is a good way to get everyone going. The morning we left for South Carolina, my mom decided to play songs from her favorite artist, Eric Clapton. Clapton is known as one of the best blues artists, but my mom chose to wake us up with the more exciting song “Crossroads”. This was certainly a jolt to my system and quickly woke me up. When the day is progressing, you can tune in to the music that you find most entertaining. Music is the catalyst of joy, and nothing will speed up the car ride faster than good music. During this point in our car ride, my sister took dominating control over the speakers and decided to play her favorite pop music, consisting of artists like John Mayer and Taylor Swift. At night, you can convey your tiredness by playing songs that are mellower. By playing a mellow song, you can calm everyone down to settle in for the night. Maybe there is no way you can reach your destination that night so you want to find a place to sleep. A mellow song suggests this. By playing an energetic song, it suggests that you want to soldier on and try to make it to the destination before the day is over. My personal favorite song for the last leg of the car ride is “The End” by the Doors, because of its rapid change in tempo and overall theme. The next time you’re in a car, try listening to different kinds of music throughout the day and see how they affect your experience in the car.
The third and final mechanism is talking about what movies you want to watch as a family. Everyone who plans for an extended car trip will bring a movie they want to watch. But when there is discussion about everyone watching a movie, it means that the car ride is reaching a pinnacle of total boredom. Only at this least pleasurable moment will you offer to watch a movie with everyone in the car. It is a last ditch effort to try to make something entertaining. By yourself, movies are often amazing and completely enjoyable, but it’s when you try to orchestrate a viewing of a movie in a car that it becomes very awry. This is because when you’re in a car, there is always that annoying glare you can’t get rid of, unless you bury yourself under a blanket or a coat. However, you can’t do this when everyone wants to watch because it is not only extremely dangerous to hide everyone under a blanket, it is also extremely impractical. Also, trying to make the volume loud enough for everyone to hear is a pain in itself. When you’re by yourself, you can just plug in headphones and you’re set. But, watching it with everyone, you need to either have a loud movie-playing device or have a way to connect the device to the car. Neither of these options is optimal, which is why watching movies alone is better. This also helps to prove why when you offer everyone to watch a movie; it means you’ve gotten to a point where you’re wiling to put up with these annoyances to just try to be entertained. This mechanism is usually very good at communicating to everyone what you’re feeling. Watching a movie alone just tells everyone you want to be entertained, but watching a movie as a family in a car is like trying to squeeze the last drops from a lemon, it’s hard and agonizing.
It is within the tight spaces of cars that the barriers of language are broken. No one is ever truly comfortable being in cars for extended periods of time, but everyone finds their own way of dealing with it. Over the long fifteen years my family has made the trip from Ohio to South Caroline, we’ve been able to master the art of surviving long car rides. With my own inside look into this discourse community, I’ve revealed how talking, music and movies are tools for communication, how strange made up words blurt out of the driver during moments of duress, and most importantly how this shifts the definition of communication. Language is special and is often defined by the words we use; however, if you look at examples like this, you’ll see that it isn’t just words that can be used to communicate, but also non-verbal platforms for information.
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Works Referenced
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. 51-52. Print.