TEXTUAL MACROSTRUCTURE: CHARACTERISTICS, ELEMENTS AND EXAMPLES - LITERATURE - 2025

The textual macrostructure is the set of ideas organized in a coherent and hierarchical way that are present in a text to present an idea in a clear and concise way. It refers directly to the necessary intrinsic harmony between the elements that make up the written argument.

According to the textual macrostructure, the active components of a text must interrelate with each other in a coherent way. When the links that occur between the different ideas that make up a text work optimally, they enhance the power of the topic and manage to fully communicate the ideas.

The term textual macrostructure was introduced in the linguistic field by the philologist Teun Adrianus van Dijk. This researcher of the letters sought to give an explanation to the semantic phenomenon in the content of the texts, and how they are organized to reliably emit a specific discourse.

The textual macrostructure can present a certain degree of ambiguity when studied. On the one hand, it deals with the global level of the text, how it should be directed towards collective understanding, and on the other hand, it refers to the events that occur in the subparts that make up said text.

characteristics

It is subordinate to a larger structure

The textual macrostructure is subject to a larger structure called superstructure. This structure makes it possible to outline the content of the macrostructures.

In addition to schematizing the macrostructures, the superstructure allows us to detect if something is needed to complete the message.

This is achieved because this structure allows evaluating the level of cohesion and logical relationship between the different macrostructures that comprise it.

Respond to generalities

The macrostructures and superstructures have something in common: they are not subject to small events in the statements, but rather respond to the general ideas of these. The whole represents more than the sum of its parts.

According to Teun van Dijk, this is due to the fact that common individuals in societies focus on the consequences of an event rather than on what happens before them.

For example: most people wait for the results of a football game, and they talk more about how it all ended than how it got there.

It has a certain dual character

Depending on how you look at it, a macrostructure can have a microstructural character. This occurs when, within an argument, there is a paragraph that belongs to another structure greater than this and that greater structure does not become the superstructure.

Now, if we study separately that paragraph that was subject to another superior idea, by itself it is a macrostructure. Here you can appreciate a bit the ambiguity of the macrostructures and how they build each other.

Difference and hierarchy

Prioritize ideas according to their importance, according to the message they are going to convey. By doing this, macrostructures allow global ideas to be clearly perceived, because they effectively organize content to be more digestible. This gives coherence to the text and guarantees thematic continuity.

Debug textual agglutinations

When a text is intervened with the aim of giving it clarity under the organizational perceptions of a textual macrostructure, the contents are appreciated in another way. What is left over is removed, which does not allow the main and secondary ideas to be elucidated.

By doing this cleaning, you can clearly see what you want to convey. Here the saying "divide and conquer" is fulfilled. The fragmentation of the sentences clarifies the understanding and illustrates what is really important about a topic.

It fulfills a communicational role

The macrostructure, when it is understood and applied correctly, allows a global appreciation of a content, achieving that it is understood precisely by the speakers.

By eliminating the noise from the environment (understood as everything that hinders understanding), the communicational fact arises. The macrostructure is an effective tool to transmit a message in a massive way.

They are cohesive with each other

This particular characteristic is what allows the texts to gain strength and significance. It is mandatory that the macrostructures present in a writing are related, in such a way that, reading a part of the whole, a context is obtained that includes the rest.

If part of the events that are embodied in a textual macrostructure are not related to the main idea, coherence is broken. As the events shown are not linked with the global argument, there is no clear message, there is no effective transmission of information or knowledge.

Elements and their examples

Each textual macrostructure needs to have the following elements to be able to function within the communicational whole to which it belongs:

Referrer

This refers to what the overall plan is about; all other macrostructures revolve around this referent. As is well known, each macrostructure is responsible for adding a topic to the text to reinforce the general idea.

Example

"Characteristics of the tenth spinel".

Aspects about the referent

Here each of the elements that deal with the main referent begin to come into play, enriching their appreciation and contextualizing the speaker.

It is important to take into account attractive and relevant components that engage the reader and leave a meaningful learning.

Example

“The tenth spinel was named for Lope de Vega, who when reading it for the first time was shocked. The famous writer, in his ecstasy at what is appreciated in the poems, said (paraphrasing): "The tenth will no longer be called the tenth, but must be called" spinel ", because it was Espinel who gave it its greatest splendor".

Subaspects of the referent

Here we deal with events that enhance the aspects of the referent, that give it strength. Since they are not main arguments, they are given that name.

It is significant to bear in mind that the fact of not occupying a first place does not imply that they can be ignored. Everything that enhances the communicative value of the text has a place.

Example

“Something interesting about this is that Espinel never found out what Lope de Vega said; in fact, he died without imagining that his variant of the well-known tenth was going to have such an impact ”.

Importance

Teun van Dijk's contributions to textual macrostructures turned the conception of texts upside down. These insights on semantics and the communicative power that texts can have when the necessary tools are applied have been very important.

The study and understanding of textual macrostructures enhances the writing of a document, regardless of the subject and the field to which it is applied.

Having clear notions about the role that corresponds to each paragraph and the interaction that must exist between them, gives the one who applies it immense power.

There is great value in words, the world revolves around them. Those who dedicate themselves to prepare in the philological field and seek to unravel the treasures that linguistics hides, will find quite relevant information in the study of textual macrostructures.

Articles of interest

Textual microstructure.

References

1. The macrostructure. (S. f.). (n / a): Literary creation. Recovered from: creacionliteraria.net
2. Dijk, T. (2008). Macrostructures, global structures. Argentina: Fcpolit. Recovered from: fcpolit.unr.edu.ar.
3. Lajusticia, R. (1995). Textual structure, semantic macrostructure and formal superstructure of the news. Madrid: UCM. Recovered from: webs.ucm.es.
4. Torres, M. (S. f.). Textual representation. Colombia: Technological University of Santander. Recovered from: es.calameo.com.
5. Coherence and macrostructure. (2005). (n / a): ABC Color. Recovered from: abc.com.py.