Text
The term "text" has multiple meanings depending on its context of use:
In
language,
text is a broad term for something that contains words to express something.
In
linguistics a
text is a communicative act, fulfilling the seven constitutive and the three regulative principles of
textuality. Both speech and written language, or language in other media can be seen as a text within linguistics.
In
literary theory a
text is the object being studied, whether it be a
novel, a
poem, a
film, an
advertisement, or anything else with a semiotic component. The broad use of the term derives from the rise of
semiotics in the 1960s and was solidified by the later
cultural studies of the 1980s, which brought a corresponding broadening of what it was one could talk about when talking about literature; see also
discourse.
In
mobile phone communication, a
text (or
text message) is a short digital message between devices, typically using SMS (
short message service). The act of sending such a message is commonly referred to as
texting.In
computing,
text refers to
character data, or to one of the
segments of a program in memory.
In
academics,
text is often used as a short form for
textbook.
In
hip hop,
text is a thriving form of
post-modern poetry popular on the
Internet. It is also referred to as
scrypt.
*
Boilerplate text*
Plain text*
Textual criticism* Mowitt, John.
Text: The Genealogy of an Antidisciplinary Object. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1992.
