ASPECTS OF APPLYING PROTOTYPOLOGY TO TEXT TYPES
Vol.10,No.2(2017)
The notion of text type emerged as far back as Aristotelian times but it is still surrounded
by considerable conceptual confusion. Due to the existence of multiple – and conflicting –
viewpoints on the notion, the related term of text type is also characterized by multiple
interpretations. Seeking to propose a means of overcoming the ambiguity surrounding
text type, the present paper argues a case for the overt application of prototype theory to
the notion and term. In accordance with basic postulates of prototypology, the suggestions
put forward here are supported by results from a study involving actual users of the notion
of text type. The study includes 28 linguists working in the field of text linguistics and
discourse analysis. The general method adopted is cognitive as it coheres with (and even
can be argued to derive historically from) prototypology.
text type; genre; prototype; rhetoric function
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