Concept of Text and Its Properties
Concept of Text
Text refers to spoken or written emissions of any length that possess a unified meaning. It can be as short as a single word or as long as an entire novel. A text comprises statements that are intentionally organized, not presented as a random list. These statements, in turn, consist of propositions connected to a central topic.
If a text explores various facets of a topic, each paragraph typically develops a specific aspect or sub-theme. A well-crafted text must fulfill three criteria: adequacy, coherence, and cohesion.
Adequacy
Adequacy determines the relevance of the messages conveyed or received, ensuring they align with the communicative situation. A text is deemed adequate if it exhibits the following characteristics:
- The ideas within the text align with the theme without unnecessary elaboration.
- The voices or perspectives presented are clear, avoiding confusing polyphony or irony.
- Successful communication between the sender and receiver is facilitated by shared knowledge.
- The text reflects the sender’s intent and adapts to the receiver’s characteristics.
Coherence
Coherence is the property that grants unity and meaning to a text, enabling interpretation. A coherent text aligns with the real or possible world and does not contradict common sense (coherence in the title). It also maintains internal consistency, with all parts relating to the same subject. Words, sentences, paragraphs, and sections do not contradict each other, and subsequent information remains relevant to what precedes it.
The logical flow of information hinges on thematic progression. There are three primary types of thematic progression:
- Progression of Constant Theme: This involves the continuous presence of a subject, which may be omitted strategically to avoid repetition.
- Progression of Arising Themes: This entails expanding a hypertheme into a series of subtopics related to its parts or aspects. Repetition, co-hyponyms, possessives, and pronouns are employed in this type of progression.
- Linear Progression: In this type, the theme of one statement becomes the subject of the next, utilizing anaphora, synonyms, hypernyms, pronouns, adverbs, etc.
Typically, different types of thematic progression are combined within a single text.
Cohesion
Cohesion is the explicit expression of coherence through formal linguistic markers. These markers reflect the relationships and appropriateness of sequences and information progression in a clear and fluid manner. Cohesion exists when each element of the text depends on others and cannot be fully interpreted in isolation.
Cohesion can be classified as follows:
- Phonic Cohesion: This involves the repetition of sounds with a specific purpose, such as rhyme or alliteration.
- Grammatical Cohesion: This encompasses the repetition of formal elements, including gender and number agreement, as well as person agreement. A specific type of grammatical cohesion is ellipsis, where a term is omitted because the linguistic context clarifies its absence. Anaphora and cataphora are other grammatical cohesion resources. These procedures involve two elements that refer to the same entity. One is a pronoun, adverb, or determiner, while the other is a sentence or nominal phrase structure.
- Deixis: This enables the location of people, objects, and events within a text. It is achieved through pronouns, demonstratives, adverbs of place, motion verbs, and tenses. Deixis can be personal, spatial, or temporal.
- Textual Markers: These are linguistic elements that signal the logical relationships between different parts of a text. They should not be confused with conjunctions, which connect constituents within a sentence. Textual markers include statement modifiers, which precede a textual unit to specify the meaning of statements, providing commentary on the content or the sender’s attitude. Text organizers, as the name suggests, structure the text. Textual connectors express relationships between ideas, the interpretation of which depends on the context. Conversational markers deserve special mention, as they reflect the interactive function of dialogic texts.
Classification of Texts
Texts can be classified based on the sender’s intention, distinguishing between practical and literary texts.
- Narrative Texts: These describe a sequence of events, real or imaginary, involving characters participating in a series of interconnected events, as seen in stories or chronicles.
- Descriptive Texts: These outline characteristics attributed to people, animals, places, times, objects, or entities. They can depict external aspects or properties, as well as physical traits, qualities, and attitudes.
- Expository Texts: These explain, present, or formulate ideas, situations, or facts about a subject matter, as found in reports or news articles.
- Argumentative Texts: In these texts, the sender aims to persuade the receiver to accept a particular viewpoint through reasoning and the use of arguments, as seen in opinion articles or speeches.
- Dialogic Texts: These involve two or more participants taking turns speaking, as in theater or interviews.
The classification of text types is complex, but any text, as stated initially, is a unit of meaning. This unity can only be achieved if the discourse adheres to the principles of adequacy, coherence, and cohesion.