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precede and motivate responses. In simple words, the context of
situation stimulates and anticipates the discourse that relates to it.
From the above argument, it is apparent that a context-dependent
text is a linguistic unit of communicative value. It is not simply a
linguistic unit projected on the interpersonal communication system, as
some critics of linguistics have alleged; for 'non-text' can be
projected on the communicative system in order to explicate a purely
non-linguistic notion. It may not seem inadvisable, in this context,
to distinguish between covert and overt texts. A covert text, as it
formally suggests, does not show up in its full entirety in linguistic
expression. Like the top part of an iceberg, its surface structure
captures the perception of the reader. Let us take the 'No Smoking'
sign which we see in filling stations as an example of covert texts.
The 'No smoking' sign is actually a warning to those who happen to be
in the vicinity of filling stations against smoking. Due to the
existence and storage of highly inflammable materials in filling
stations, it is inadmissable for anyone to smoke lest a devastating
fire should flare up. All these implications, which are commonly
understood, are listed in the 'No smoking' sign, hence their being not
explicitly stated.
The overt text, on the other hand, is envisaged and perceived in
its entirety in linguistic expression. Though in communicative
discourse a text may consist ih a word, a sentence, or a sequence of
sentences, it is preferable, not without justification as we shall find
out later, to investigate long texts, for they obviate and resolve
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