Text and Discourse
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Shah Zaib HayatText and Discourse
Uploaded by
Shah Zaib HayatDiscourse and Text
The main difference between text and discourse is that the text does
not specify an agent whereas the discourse specifies the agent of
the information. Thus, a text is necessarily non-interactive while discourse
is necessarily interactive.
Even though the two terms text and discourse are used interchangeably with
concern to literary analytical studies, these two are two diverging subjects.
This confusion arises due to the similar nature of the two in their literary
analytical studies as textual analysis and discourse analysis.
Key Areas Covered
1. What is a Text
– Definition, Features, Examples
2. What is Discourse
– Definition, Features, Examples
3. What is the Similarity Between Text and Discourse
– Outline of Common Features
4. What is the Difference Between Text and Discourse
– Comparison of Key Differences
Key Terms
Analytical Studies, Discourse, Linguistics, Text, Communication
What is a Text
A text includes some information, specifically in the written form or printed
form. Thus, it is noteworthy that the agent of a text is not crucial: there may
or may not be an agent. And the agent has no direct impact of the content to
the reader. For example, consider the text in a subject textbook, an essay, or
a press release where the information is merely reported with or without an
agent or the speaker. The information present in a text is usually non-
interactive, or it does not contain an indication of conversational speech.
Thus, the reader only reads and becomes aware of the facts presents. As
defined by the Linguistic glossary terms, text is “a sequence of paragraphs
that represents an extended unit of speech.” Therefore, the grammatical
cohesion is a fundamental factor in a text.
In order to analyze the content of a text, one should be aware of the
linguistic and grammatical categories of the language, and the information
provided according to the meaning, grammatical devices used, structure,
meaning, etc. Therefore, by analyzing the overall structure of the text, one is
able to grasp the meaning of the text. Thus, textual analysis, in brief, is the
analysis of these grammatically cohesive sentences, imparting some
information.
However, in literary studies, there are several text types: narrative texts,
descriptive texts, expository texts, etc. in which discourse can be included as
well.
What is Discourse
A discourse is necessarily interactive, which means there is always an agent
to the information in discourse. In simple terms, discourse is often
conversational communications between people. Therefore, under linguistics
and literary theory, discourse is defined as “a social event of multi-layered
communication in a variety of media: verbal, textual, visual and audial, that
has an interactive social purpose.”
Thus, interactive quality is a primary requirement in discourse. In other
words, the existence of an agent to the information defines what discourse
means. Therefore, unlike a text, a discourse can have cohesive sentences as
well as utterances of the communicating agents. In other words, discourse
depicts the usage of language in for social purposes. This is the basic
difference between text and discourse.
Therefore, to analyze a discourse, one should study the persons or the
agents involved in the communication (who to whom), the purpose of them
(the social purpose), and medium used (verbal, written, audio or visual).
Thus, to grasp the meaning of discourse, one should analyze all these three
basic elements in the discourse.
Similarity Between Text and Discourse
Both text and discourse usually consist of sentences which
communication information.
Difference Between Text and Discourse
Definition
Text is usually a written form of communication information, which is a non-
interactive nature. In contrast, discourse can be from spoken, written, visual
and audial form, communicating information that is interactive in nature.
Agent
The agent is not crucial for the text. However, the agent is crucial, and it is
that what makes up a discourse. This is the main difference between text
and discourse.
Nature
Also, the text is non-interactive in nature; on the contrary, discourse is
interactive in nature.
Analysis Parts
In a text, the grammatical cohesion and the structure of sentences are
analyzed whereas, in discourse, the agents involved in the communication,
the social purpose and the medium utilized are analyzed to comprehend the
meaning of it. This is an important difference between text and discourse.
Medium or Form
Furthermore, the text is usually in written form whereas discourse can be
either in written, verbal, visual or audio form.
Examples
Examples of texts include press reports, street signs, documents, etc.
whereas discourse can be dialogues, conversations, interactions in audio-
visual programmes, etc, anything that depicts the social usage of the
language.
Conclusion
Text and discourse create varied confusion due to the interchangeable use of
these two terms in varied contexts. However, these two are distinctive
aspects of linguistics and communication studies. A text is necessarily non-
interactive while discourse is necessarily interactive. Therefore, a text does
not necessarily indicate an agent whereas the agent is a crucial element in a
discourse. This is the main difference between text and discourse.
