What is a text?

A text is a communicative and discursive event, as the unity of discourse stands in the elements that are organized and inter-connected, in an explicit or implicit way. This organization and inter-relationships forms the structure of the discourse, which in turn creates its object: the text. Thus, textualization is the process of expressing in words – in either spoken or written form – the mental contents manifested through organized thought, in which the text is displayed spatially and temporally, in sequences of phrases arranged in a relation of continuity.

On the subject of textual linguistics, Beaugrande and Dressler (1997), cited by  Ordóñez (2006:25-26) claim that: “a text is not a great amount of words, or a super-long sentence consisting of logical, well-arranged utterances, nor is it a set of grammar rules. What really makes a text is its communicative significance, for which it must fulfill seven inter-related textual norms – two of them are inherent to the text (cohesion and coherence), while five others are related to context (intentionality, acceptability, informativeness, situation and intertextuality) – and three regulatory principles of communication (efficacy, effectiveness and appropriateness).