3 Conceptual developments in discourse tradition theory

Abstract

The concept of discourse tradition (DT) is a core component of the system of language competence developed by Eugenio Coseriu and unfolds its analytical sharpness embedded in the differentiations of that model. The idea of DT is based on the concepts of historicity, individuality and tradition. A central topic of the debates and controversies that have arisen in Romance linguistics is the question of how historicity and individuality enter into the idea of DT. In comparison, the concept of tradition has been studied in far less depth and is therefore given additional consideration in this contribution. As a concept, DTs include very different patterns of text design. This wide scope enables them to function as a dynamic, transdisciplinary concept but also calls for categories that allow a refined description of the different types of DT. Therefore the development of criteria for a categorization of DTs is a further central aspect of this chapter. The application of these criteria is illustrated using the example of the topos of unspeakability in various discourse types and genres.