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.

See also

• Boilerplate text
• Plain text
• Textual criticism

References

• Mowitt, John. Text: The Genealogy of an Antidisciplinary Object. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1992.

Discourse analysis

Text | Tekst | Text | Texto | Teksto | Texte | Texto | Texto | Testo | Текст | Tekst | テキスト | Tekst | Tekst | Texto | Текст | Text