Text
Text is the forming of a written work, different from a reader's interpretation of its story, theme, subtext, etc., or a particular work taken as the object of investigation. The adjective for the noun text is ‘textual’ [Baldick, 257].
Traditionally, the text refers to the words that make up a composition. However, the text has taken on a much broader meaning with the appearance of deconstruction and post-structuralism. Theorists contend that we are always inside a text when we use language. We can never go outside the text in this sense. Consequently, human relationships, historical events, and even an individual’s sense of self are “textualized” and available only in the form of language. The prevalence of textuality expands to literary texts, primarily constituted by other texts (intertextuality) [Quinn, p. 415].
Text (from Latin textum, means ‘to weave’) has several meanings: (a) the words of a book in their original form or any other form they have been transferred to or transfigured to; (b) a book of these words; (c) the main body of content in a book – aside from notes, commentary, etc.; (d) a short passage from the Bible [Cuddon, p. 717].
Text is a continuing piece of language, especially one with an identifiable beginning and end. Linguists used the word text to denote any piece of the language they were interested in. Still, since the 1960s, the term text has acquired a theoretical status, and the investigation of texts has become a primary goal of linguistic studies. Nevertheless, the idea of what a text is not the same everywhere. For some researchers, a text has no difference from a discourse. For others, a text is a more physical product resulting from a discourse. For still others, a text is mainly defined by its identifiable aim. Finally, some linguists consider that a text is written whereas a discourse is spoken [Trask, p. 208].
⠀ Chris Baldick. (2015). The Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
⠀ Cuddon J.A. (2013). A Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory. Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley-Blackwell.
⠀ Quinn Edward. (2006). A dictionary of literary and thematic terms. New-York: Infobase Publishing.
⠀ Trask R.L. (1999). Key Concepts in Language and Linguistics. London: Routledge.