- What is writing?
Writing is the composition of language to form coherent, written text that advances a purpose.
2. What activities do or do not constitute writing and why?
Activities that constitute writing are composing essays, books, poems, and other literary genres (such as texting and Facebook posts) that form coherent text and strives to achieve a purpose. Activities that do not constitute writing are anything that either does not form coherent written text or does not contain a purpose. Though all writing might contain some sort of purpose, not all writing forms coherent written text (e.g. audio and visual forms of communication such as movies and music), and therefore, does not constitute writing.
Project 3: Discourse Community Activity
3. What are the unspoken rules of language that you are observing in your discourse community?
In his blog, Greg Mankiw’s word choice is simple enough that a person who is either a novice or not at all affiliated with an economics discourse community can understand. He does this by using more commonly used words and defining terms that may not be familiar to a novice in the economics discourse community. His language does not contain slang, is formal and grammatically sound. The tone of the text is authoritative, presenting the author as an expert in the field. Though the author primarily uses neutral language to disseminate basic news about the contemporary economic situation, he at times uses assertive language to further his theories as to why the economy did what it did or what can be done to solve it.
4. How does the text use language to assert affiliations with the discourse community?
The text uses language that can be understood by both experts and novices in the economics discourse community, allowing him to affiliate with members of both levels of expertise. To do this, Mankiw uses commonly used words to assert his viewpoints and defines terms that may not be considered common by non-members or novices.