We all recognize a text as having some sort of unity, but in

what exactly does that unity consist? The 27 contributions

collected in this volume derive from the 13th Euro-International

Systemic Functional Workshop held at the Université de

Bretagne Occidentale, at Brest in France, and they attempt in

different ways to answer at least part of this complex question.

In order to do so, they use analytical techniques inspired by

Systemic Functional Linguistics. In this theoretical framework,

one of the strands of meaning is the textual metafunction, which

Michael Halliday has called the "enabling" metafunction in that

it is the strand of meaning which makes a series of clauses into

a text. It includes thematic structure, information structure and

cohesion, and all three are considered here. Some of the

contributions consider them in relation to specific genres, such

as e-mails, medical discharge notices or scientific abstracts;

some do so in relation to literary texts. Many concern English,

but Portuguese, French and Danish are also considered. Recent

research on text has gone beyond the verbal to consider the

contribution played by visual or other non-verbal aspects of

communication. This is the case of several of these

contributions. This volume thus constitutes a significant

contribution to current studies on the nature of text.