3. Textual Categories

The textual category is a property characterizing every text, in other words, it is a typological feature of a text. Textual categories appear and function only in the text as a language unit of the highest rank. It is important to remember that the text is never modeled by one textual category but always by a totality of categories. It is sometimes regarded as a total of categories. Today the list of textual categories is open: linguists name different textual categories because they approach the text from different angles. Most scholars differentiate between contensive and structural categories. However, some linguists draw a strict demarcation line between the two while others do not. The most commonly identified textual categories include:

1) divisibility – the text can be divided into parts, chapters and paragraphs dealing with specific topics, therefore having some formal and semantic independence;

2) cohesion – formal connectedness;

3) coherence – internal connectedness (integrity, according to I. R.Galperin);

4) prospection (flash-forward) – anticipation of future events;

5) retrospection (flash-back) – return to events in the past; (Both prospection and retrospection break the space-time continuum of the text.)

6) anthropocentricity – the Man is the central figure of any text independent of its specific theme, message and plot;

7) conceptuality – any text has a message. Expressing some idea, that is, conveying a message is the basis of any creative work;

8) informativity

9) completeness – the text must be a complete whole;

10) modality – the attitude of the author towards what is being communicated;

11) the author’s image – way the author’s personality is expressed in the text.