My Understanding of a Discourse Community

In my mind, when I reflect upon the idea of a discourse community I picture a group of individuals from various ethnic and/or religious backgrounds gathering together to verbally discuss common goals or interests. A discourse community is a group that does not necessarily share common values but do share interests, such as college majors, career goals, or a bond as simplistic as common musical tastes. In my own personal definition of discourse community, I do not limit the definition to a group of professionals or college students. Discourse communities extend and can branch out to contain every group of individuals, sharing common ideas and interests with one another through some mode of communication, whether it is verbal, or through e-mail or online chatting. There are multiple forms of communication other than verbal. With today's new technologies, it seems that communication opportunities are limitless, connecting individuals across the globe. Since the definition of discourse communication is not complete, I feel that my definition and ideas regarding it are valid. One final comment I would like to make concerns the essay excerpt by Russell. Russell commented that within the realm of the "modern university," there are many separate groups that have destroyed "linguistic hegemony," since "excluded social groups were admitted to universities." This statement seemed biased to me, and Russell needs to realize that linguistic diversity is a good thing because it enriches groups of students. After all, a university without diversity seems to me a waste of time and a loss of great experiences that could have been.