Intertextuality
Intertextuality is the way texts reference, incorporate, transform, and build upon other texts. No text exists in isolation — every text is shaped by the texts that preceded it and shapes those that follow.
Origins
The term was coined by Julia Kristeva in 1966 (published 1969 in Semeiotike), drawing on Mikhail Bakhtin's concept of dialogism. Bakhtin argued that every utterance is filled with echoes of prior utterances — language is inherently dialogic. Kristeva formalised this as intertextuality: a text is "a mosaic of quotations; any text is the absorption and transformation of another."
While Bakhtin emphasised the social and ideological dimensions of dialogue between texts, Kristeva reframed the concept through structuralist semiotics, focusing on the play of signs across texts.
Types
| Type | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Manifest intertextuality | Explicit reference to another text through quotation, citation, or attribution | Academic citation; "As Shakespeare wrote..." |
| Constitutive intertextuality (interdiscursivity) | Drawing on conventions, genres, or discourse types without explicit reference | A job application that follows the conventions of formal letter writing |
| Allusion | Indirect reference that relies on shared cultural knowledge | "His Achilles heel was his temper" |
| Parody/pastiche | Imitating another text's style, either critically (parody) or respectfully (pastiche) | A news report written in the style of a fairy tale |
| Presupposition | Assumptions embedded in a text that rely on knowledge of other texts/discourses | "The government's latest U-turn..." presupposes knowledge of prior policy |
Intertextuality in CDA
Fairclough (1992) placed intertextuality at the centre of Critical Discourse Analysis, arguing that the way texts draw on other texts reveals ideological positioning. Analysing intertextual chains — how a political speech draws on religious discourse, for example — exposes how power operates through language.
Relevance to ELT
Academic Literacy
Academic writing is fundamentally intertextual: students must cite, paraphrase, synthesise, and position their work relative to existing scholarship. Teaching intertextuality means teaching:
- Citation conventions and their rhetorical functions
- Paraphrasing and summarising as transformations of source texts
- Synthesis — weaving multiple sources into a coherent argument
- Academic voice — positioning oneself in relation to others' claims
Genre Awareness
Understanding Genre requires understanding intertextuality. Genres exist because texts follow and adapt the patterns of prior texts. A learner writing a formal email draws on (perhaps unconsciously) every formal email they have encountered.
Reading Comprehension
Many texts assume intertextual knowledge — allusions, cultural references, genre conventions. Learners from different cultural backgrounds may lack the intertextual networks that L1 readers take for granted, creating comprehension difficulties that are not linguistic but cultural.
Critical Literacy
Teaching learners to identify how texts draw on other texts develops critical reading skills — recognising when a news article echoes a government press release, for example, or when advertising appropriates scientific discourse.