Examples of Lexis in Discourse Communities

Examples of Lexis in Discourse Communities


CB Radio Trucker Speak
The discourse used by truckers over their CB radios serves a very particular purpose and exists only within that particular community.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpyzlHvN1yE

http://www.cbgazette.com/slang.html
This is an example of how lexis develops as a result of shared communication needs within a group. Trucker Speak would not be meaningful or useful to people outside of the trucker community, but is helps truckers communicate more effectively.
Leetspeak
Leetspeak was originally developed by computer hackers to help them communicate freely with each other online while remaining undecipherable and confusing to outsides. Leetspeak replaces letters with numbers or manipulates the spelling of works. “Leet” stands for the term “elite,” often written as l337, or 31337 within the community.
Leetspeak has since transformed to include non-hackers, though still confined to a small community of computer-savvy technophiles.
This is another example of how lexis develops as a result of shared communication needs within a specific group. Hacker’s shared goal of disguising their lingo in order to work undetected, drove their desire to create a secretive lexis.
http://www.google.com/webhp?hl=xx-hacker

http://www.downloadsource.net/1570/Leet-Speak-Generator/

Rap Battle
The following video shows and example of one discourse community, rappers, whose discourse serves a particular purpose. However, in this video the lexis of rap has been traded for technical, academic English. How does that alter the purpose of the original discourse?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6H0i1RAdHk