Didactics of Translation: Text in Context

The text linguistics approach

1. Introduction

As stated by Chau (1984), the text linguistic stage has ushered in a new era where the emphasis on minimal units and decontextualized sentences

has been replaced by a consideration of the unit text as the proper site of investigation. According to Hatim and Mason, text linguistics is

that branch of linguistics which concerns itself with the analysis of spoken and written text above the level of individual sentences. (Hatim and Mason 1990: 123)
Referring to the work of Beaugrande and Dressler (1981), they add that text linguistics “attempts to account for the forms of texts in terms of their users” (Ibid: 33).
At this point, it should be pointed out that there has recently been a move to using the terms textlinguistics and discourse analysis interchangeably by researchers. Thus, for example, Abdul-Fattah M. Jabr (2001) uses a slash between Discourse Analysis and Textlinguistics when talking about the implication of these for translation. Furthermore, he assigns to them a similar function, namely that of studying language beyond the sentence level:
Since translation is a significant language skill, its methodology and practices are largely inspired and influenced by the developments that often occur in mainstream linguistics, among other disciplines. The most recent development in this regard is the evolution of discourse analysis / textlinguistics which has shifted the focus from the isolated sentence to “text”, as the largest entity of language description and study. (2001: 304- 305)
Similarly, Mehrach notes that
in recent years, there has been considerable overlap between textlinguistics and discourse analysis, which is why some linguists see very little difference between the two disciplines. (Mehrach 2003: 35)
He also states that
all text linguists, however, share the view that discourse is a natural domain of linguistics, while texts are the minimal object of enquiry. (Ibid: 35)
Yet, there are also linguists who consider a text “as a physical product, and discourse as a dynamic process of expression and interpretation whose function can be investigated using psycholinguistic and sociolinguistic methods” (Dressler 1978 in Mehrach, Ibid).
In this book, I will consistently make use of the term textlinguistics while taking into account its overlap with the term discourse analysis.

2.