Examples
Text is something difficult to define as there are so many different forms that fit. If it is defined as what someone writes down to impact others, there are a lot of different versions. Books, newspapers, letters, notes, and more are all vastly unique examples. If text is something someone does to invoke change, many other forms can be seen. Movies, songs, speeches, YouTube, TikToks, and more can all be made to cause change.
This all leads to text not just being things written down and not just things with audio. It can be one, both, or even neither as it could also be an artwork. This is why it is so difficult to define text, as it can be an endless list of different things. Definitions are usually something specific, but as a text could be a variety of things it is hard to get specific. It is almost impossible to know what a limit what a text is and isn’t. When you get too specific you notice you left something out of your definition.
Defining
Defining text is a big task, and something many have tried to do. One definition comes from Eyman being that “Texts have rhetorical features, originate in and propel social action, and are designed material objects…”. This definition is okay and works fine, I just wanted to take my own shot at defining texts. Texts are something a person uses to defend a side of an argument, prove a point, inspire change, showcase a discovery, and or change someone’s mind. With this, I hope to demonstrate how much a text can do. Also show how many different forms it can take. It doesn’t have to be written or artsy, to me it mostly has to make someone think about something they wouldn’t have thought about otherwise. With texts, there should be some sort of lesson or a message to understand.
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