Definition of cotext - What it is, Meaning and Concept

The concept of cotext is used in the field of linguistics to refer to the set of elements that precede or follow a sentence or a term , determining its meaning or its proper interpretation.It is important to keep in mind, however, that the notion has different scopes according to the semiologist who uses it.

It can be said that the cotext is a group of linguistic signs that maintain an interrelation with a sentence or with a word in a given situation.While the context (with N) is responsible for relating a sign with others that have the same characteristics and that are part of the same situation of existence, the cotext (without N) relates the sign to other signs that have different characteristics or that, although they share characteristics, are in a situation of existence that is different.

As you can see, both Because of their similarity of writing as meaning, cotext and context are two ideas that are often confused and in which many times their differences are not clear.There are those who even argue that the cotext is a level of the context that provides information from the closest textual environment (what was expressed before or what is expressed below).In this sense, the context would also have other levels, such as external knowledge, data from other texts, etc.

In order to understand, therefore, the difference between context and cotext we can state that the first is that set of signs and semiotic characteristics similar to those studied, that have a certain connection and are interesting to discover about it.On the other hand, the cotext comes to take place when a sign is linked and related with others of different characteristics or with others that do have similar or different characteristics that are in another existential situation.

In this way, we can establish that the context of an icon would be formed by other icons while its cotext would be shaped by what are symbols, for example.

In summary, it can be said that the cotext is formed by those linguistic elements that condition the interpretation of a phrase or term, including it, preceding it or following it in the text .

When it comes to cotext it is also usual that another very relevant term comes to light.We are referring to the so-called paratext.This is used to mention what is the set of statements that come to accompany the main text.Thus, for example, we would talk about paratext to mention the index, what the preface, the title and the subtitle would be, the footnotes, the dedication...

In this case, We also need to establish that there are two types of paratext.In this way, on the one hand, there is the editorial, which receives that name because it is made by the editor, and which can be composed of aspects such as copyright, cover, the catalog...On the other hand, there is the author's paratext, which is done by the author and includes statements such as epigraph or dedication.