A polyglot research program in textology/text linguistics
The main function of the series Officina Textologica is to create a polyglot and (if possible) integrative forum for scholars working on or interested in problems of textology/text linguistics. The topics dealt with in this first volume, which is meant to be programmatic, are as follows:
1. The disciplinary environment of text study
Text linguistics and textology in text study
The central concern of this chapter is the definition of the relationship between textology and text linguistics as well as of their place within the discipline and environment of text study. The author outlines this environment, globally referring to the fields of research that text study is or can be related to. He also summarizes the most important questions (relating to textology, text linguistics, their definitions, the study of text-creating factors, the given theoretical framework, etc.) that must be answered before an explicit heuristics of textology and text linguistics can be developed.
2. The relation of text linguistics and textology in introductions to textology and text linguistics, readers, congress proceedings, monographs and text grammars
Since the creation of a common theoretical background is essential in fruitful interaction, it is necessary to enumerate those publications in textology/text linguistics which need to be reinterpreted in order to broaden the possible scopes of textology/text linguistics. The author finds it a task of primary importance to compile a bibliography surveying such publications, to which the disciplinary environment appears to provide the most suitable framework. With this in mind, he supplies a (thematically arranged) systematic bibliography that reveals which types of publications he considers important to include.
3. Aspects of the text linguistic/textological analysis and description of text-creating factors
This chapter discusses the two most important factors in establishing textual cohesion: coreferential elements and coreference relationships on the one hand, and the linear organization of text-creating elements on the other. Three possible approaches to analyzing coreferentiality are exemplified: analysis of a single coreference chain within the text; demonstration of several coreference chains in isolation from the text, enumerating the elements regarded as coreferential; and the demonstration of textual coreference by substitution of all referred factors with special names and indices. Examples are given of the partial analysis of the combinatorially possible vs. actually acceptable linear orders of text sentence components. This is done without discussing the question of when the tools of text linguistics alone are sufficient for the analysis and when one has to resort to methods applied in textology. The chapter also outlines the analytical and creative approach to the analysis of coreferentiality and the possible linear arrangements of text sentence components.
4. System linguistics and the linguistics of the use of elements of the language system from a text linguistic/textological perspective
The textological/text linguistic analysis of texts makes demands on the linguistics of system sentences. This chapter summarizes the procedures that system linguistics should accommodate to permit the representation of connectedness, cohesion and coherence between text sentences, of coreference relationships, and the explicit analysis of possible linear orders of text-sentence constituents. Examples are given of the possible ways of representing nuclear and non-nuclear simple, and complex sentences. The author emphasizes the importance and usefulness of coreference indices and the fact that the application of these requires a special structuring of sentence representations.
5. Semiotic textology as a theoretical framework for text linguistics
This chapter discusses the basic principles of what the author calls semiotic textology: the theoretical framework that he proposes to use as a vantage point for this research program. He outlines the basic properties of the discipline (scope, objectives, methods) that justify the use of the term. Semiotic textology regards text as a complex sign, with regard to which the primary task is the definition of (system-invariant) structure: components, types of organization, levels and units of compositionality. To facilitate the analysis of predominantly verbal texts, possible types of interpretations are also defined, dwelling on interpretation bases used in semiotic textology and the possibilities of selecting or creating them.
6. Proposed structure of the series Officina Textologica
To attain the objective of the series, i.e. to create a special forum (or fictive round table) for scholars working on and interested in the problems of text study, the series plans to invite papers on specially selected issues and to publish thematic volumes. This chapter contains the list of these main thematic groups.
The volume ends with a select bibliography that contains the bibliographic data of the publications written, co-authored or edited by the author in Hungarian.
The English version of this volume is now in preparation.