What is a text?
The branch ‘text linguistics’ deals with the question of text definition, as well as text classification, formal texture, semantic texture, and textual intentions.
According to the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (4th ed.), texts are always written occurrences (which can be realised in an oral manner), consist of a huge amount of sentences, and are opposed to pictures or even notes (Schubert 2008: 16f.).
Halliday & Hasan define a text as follows: “A text is a passage of discourse which is coherent in these two regards: it is coherent with respect to the context of situation, and therefore consistent in register; and it is coherent with respect to itself, and therefore cohesive“ (Halliday/Hasan 1976: 23).
Their definition includes text-internal aspects (cohesion = concern the grammatical and semantic structure of a text), as well as text-external aspects (coherence = concern the communicative and pragmatic characteristics of a text).
Werlich adds the term ‘completion’ to their definition:
“A text is an extended structure of syntactic units such as words, groups, and clauses and textual units that is marked by both coherence and completion […] (Werlich 1983: 23).“
This ‘completion’ means that texts usually include initiators (e.g. to begin with, once upon a time, firstly etc.) and terminators (e.g. in sum, finally, to conclude).
According to de Beaugrande & Dressler (1981: 3), a text is a “communicative occurrence which meets seven standards of textuality[.]”
These standards are cohesion, coherence, intentionality, acceptability, informativity, situationality, and intertextuality. If these standards are not fulfilled, it is ‘non-communicative’ and we are dealing with a ‘non-text’.
According to Werlich (1983: 23), a non-text “consists of random sequences of linguistic units such as sequences, paragraphs, or sections in any temporal and/or spatial extension.”
Sources:
De Beaugrande, R.; Dressler, W. (1981). Introduction to Text Linguistics. London: Longman.
Della, S.; Fox, C. (2005). Longman dictionary of contemporary English. 4th ed. Harlow, Essex: Longman
Halliday, M.A.K.; .Hasan, R. (1976). Cohesion in English. London: Longman.
Schubert, C. (2008). Englische Textlinguistik – Eine Einführung. Berlin: Erich Schmidt.
Werlich, E. (1983). A text grammar of English. Heidelberg: Quelle & Meyer