A Note on the Genre–Register Nexus

Abstract A central concern of linguistic and semiotic anthropology has been to chart an analytically and methodologically manageable passageway between text and context. The genre–register nexus supplies this passageway. Genre is defined as the poetically achieved typification of textuality (whether denotational, interactional, or aesthetic). In contrast, register is defined as the poetically achieved typification of contextuality. As a duplex structure of intersecting semiotic planes, the genre–register nexus resolves the interpretative leap that is otherwise necessary between text and context.