VOM TEXTARCHETYP ZUM TEXTPROTOTYP. Möglichkeiten und Grenzen der Prototypen-Hypothese in der Textlinguistik

The present study aims to discuss the significance of the prototypical hypothesis with regard to text-theoretical questions. The prototypical hypothesis in text linguistics can be traced back to the basic assumption that the bundle of features, which can be attributed to a text, shows a fundamental openness. This means that a definition of "text" which really aims at defining the concept (i.e., the demarcation of a series of fixed text features, at the same time necessary and sufficient) proves to be impossible. In the prototypical oriented text linguistics, the attempt to determine "text" as an archetypical unity is thus replaced by attempting to determine "text" as a bundle of prototypical units. In practical terms, this new understanding of text definition consists on the one hand in an attempt to collect and to integrate possible text characteristics, and on the other hand in an attempt to determine which characteristics are central. However, the prototypical hypothesis shows itself only insofar as meaningful, if it is clear that it does not actually concern the notion itself of text. A general notion of "text" (text as a communication-related linguistic unit) is required as a precondition in order to allow text categorization, the openness itself of the bundle of features, and also to explain the centrality of certain features.