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conditioned by the author's state or states of mind at the time of
actualization. The psychological factors are fully operative and more
easily discernible in the text because it entails an unlimited scope
for text processing. Along with this, thetext is basically motivated
by a specific human situation which is inherently subject to change.
In addition, the mental processes involved in text production and text
consumption, despite their intense complexities, are susceptible to
constant modifications inspired by varied psychological states. This,
inevitably, accounts for the wide divergences detectable in the
translations of a specific text by various translators. On the
contrary, the sentence, being a verbal manifestation of a grammatical
structure, does not stimulate or anticipate heterogeneous
interpretations.
Drawing distinctions between sentence and text has brought the
notion of context into full prominence. While Halliday calls it
'context of situation', de Beaugrande defines it as, "a situation of
occurrence in which a constellation of strategies, expectations, and
knowledge are active". (1980, p12) The two definitions are not far-
distanced. They are almost identical except that de Beaugrande's may
seem a bit more empirical. Thus, the text and its relevant context are
intimately indissoluble. They are, in fact, two faces of the same
coin. Functionally, the text is interpretable in the light of, and
with reference to, its relevant context. Since the text is originally
motivated by the situational context to which it relates it follows
that the context, in spacio-temporal terms, is prior to its subsequent
text. This is obviously logical; for in real-life situations stimuli
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