The following is a summary from:

Beaugrande, R. de and W.U. Dressler. 1992. Introduction to Text Linguistics. London, New
York. Longman.

The 7 standards of Textuality (Text Linguistics)

Text linguistics deals with fragments of language larger than a sentence. The approach to text
is functional rather than formal, i.e. Text Linguistics is concerned with how people use
language, which involves taking into account context.

The task of text linguistics is to account for the ability of native speakers to distinguish
between well-formed texts, which constitute a unified whole, and non-texts.

According to De Beaugrande and Dressler, a text can be defined as a communicative

occurrence when it meets the seven standards of textuality.

 cohesion
 coherence
 intentionality
 acceptability
 informativity
 situationality
 intertextuality

1. Cohesion
It concerns the ways in which the components of the surface text (the actual words that we
hear or read) are connected in a sequence.
The cohesive devices have two tasks: a) to unify text; b) to make it more economical (to
save short-term memory).

Cohesive devices can be grouped into the following categories:

a) co-reference
E.g. I met a very knowledgeable man last week. He told me that ….

b) substitution.
E.g. Would you like the red sweater or the blue one?

c) ellipsis
E.g. Would you like another candy? I have plenty (-)

d) lexical cohesion
E.g. terms such as “universe, stars, galaxy, sun” in a text about the
discovery of a new planet. The semantic field/lexical set could be called
“Astronomy.”

e) conjunction
 E.g. There are many reasons why yoga is highly beneficial. First, it can
help you become more flexible. Second, it is the best way to develop body
and soul connection.

2. Coherence
This has to do with the mental processes and cultural knowledge that help a reader/hearer
understand any given discourse.

Could you open the door?

I’m in the bath!

Often texts are both coherent and cohesive, but sometimes only coherent, e.g. the example
above. As long as they are interpreted by the users, and are understood, they are acceptable.
However, a text which is cohesive but not coherent is unacceptable. Logical unity is more
important than surface unity.

Yesterday I saw a car. A car is a machine. There is no doubt about it that a machine
is a noun. We have many kinds of nouns and he was very kind to me. What’s more,
kind has four letters.

3 and 4. Intentionality and Acceptability

These concern the speaker/writer’s intention to produce a text, and the listener/reader´s
intention to accept it as a text.
Assessing intentionally involves asking questions such as “What is the goal? Does the text
achieve it?”
When assessing intentionality, listeners/readers ask whether the text can be considered of use
or relevance.

If a conversation is to be successful, it should involve:

 co-operation of the interlocutors;
 truthfulness of the interlocutors;
 providing necessary information (but not more or less than necessary);
 being relevant, to the point;
 being clear.
(Remember, though, that these can be purposefully violated, to imply something)

If acceptability is restricted, communication can break down. It is taken as a signal of non-

cooperation if a text receiver raises questions about acceptability when the text producer’s
intentionality is obviously in effect.

Example:
Thomson: On the way to France, I had the funniest experience! I was sitting next to a
Frenchman on the train and he was dozing off and then …
Smith: Did you get to France at all when you were away?
Thomson: This was in France that I am telling you about. On the way from Paris to
Marseilles, I got into this carriage and sat next to a Frenchman.
Smith: The carriages there aren´t like our here, right?
Thomson (rather discouraged): A bit different, but that´s not the point.
Here it is clear that Thomson has a plan in order to tell his story. However, Smith denies
acceptability of the plan by being non-cooperative. Smith refuses to accept Thomson´s text as
an anecdote and thus he has defeated Thomson´s goal and attained his own, which was to
make Thomson refrain from telling an anecdote his interlocutor was not interested in. Smith
has achieved all this through lack of acceptance of Thomson´s text.

In the case of written texts, writers must observe the conventions of the text type being
produced. For example, when writing a research paper, writers must follow the conventions of
academic discourse, which involve the use of proper citation conventions and strict
observance of the following sections: Introduction, Literature Review, Methods, Results,
Discussion, Conclusion, Reference List. For a research paper to be accepted, among other
requirements, all the sections must be included and their order cannot be altered.

5. Informativity
It concerns the balance between the unknown and certain, expected and unexpected in a text.
A text which is full of the new and unexpected can be rejected as too difficult. (too high on
informativity)
A text which consists of only known information can be rejected as boring. (too low on
informativity)

Informativity is context-sensitive. For example, you expect high informativity in a lecture,

and rather low informativity in a text heard at a bus stop.

Example:
Particularly low informativity is likely to be disturbing, causing boredom or even rejection of
the text. The opening stretch of a science textbook runs like this:
[1] The sea is water
The fact asserted here is so well known to everyone that there seems to be no point in saying
it here. The stretch of text is clearly cohesive and coherent, and undoubtedly intended to be
acceptable as such. But it is nonetheless a marginal text because it is so uninformative.

Not until we look at the continuation does the text’s status seem more sound:
[2] The sea is water only in the sense that water is the dominant substance present. Actually, it
is a solution of gases and salts in addition to vast numbers of living organisms ...

The assertion of the obvious fact in [2] functions as a starting point for asserting something
more informative.

In addition, a written text with a high level of informativity will require good use of
paragraphing, topic sentences and connectors to be considered appropriate and effective.

6. Situationality
It concerns factors which make a text relevant to a current situation or occurrence.

Example:
A road sign such as:
(1)
SLOW
 CHILDREN
AT PLAY
may be interpreted in different ways, but its intended meaning may be inferred by
considering its context, or the situation in which it is used. If the sign is placed in a
location where a certain class of receivers, namely motorists, are likely to be asked for a
particular action, then it is far more reasonable to assume that ‘slow’ is a request to reduce
speed rather than an announcement of the children’s mental or physical deficiencies.

On the one hand, a text version such as:

[2] Motorists should proceed slowly, because children are playing in the vicinity and
might run out into the street. Vehicles can stop more readily if they are moving
slowly.

would remove every possible doubt meaning. However, it would not be appropriate to a
situation where receivers have only limited time and attention to devote to signs among the
other occurrences of moving traffic.

7. Intertextuality
This concerns the ways in which the production and reception of a given text depend upon the
participants’ knowledge of other texts.
The transfer from an old text to the present one can take the form a direct quotation or an
allusion.

Example:
An advertisement appeared in magazines some years ago showing a petulant young man
saying to someone outside the picture:
[1] As long as you’re up, get me a Grant’s.

A professor working on a research project cut the text out of a magazine, altered it slightly,
and displayed it on his office door as:
[2] As long as you’re up, get me a Grant.

In the original setting, [1] was a request to be given a beverage of a particular brand. In
the new setting, [2] seems to be pointless: research grants are awarded only after extensive
preparation and certainly can’t be obtained while casually walking across a room. One
can only understand [2] as a joke via one’s knowledge of the originally presented text.