Recursion in text structure

This article discusses recursiveness in the structure of text. In functional linguistics, recursiveness is commonly regarded as a syntactic feature. Nevertheless, a survey of the different structural models of texts of different registers reveals that recursion is often incorporated into these models in order for them to be applicable to actual texts. The two types of recursion (i.e. linear and embedded recursion) are both found in the structure of actual texts. Recursiveness of text structure has two features, optionality and theoretical infinity, which in turn render text structure recognizable (i.e. there are recognizable patterns) and diversified (i.e. there are variations on the basic patterns). The article concludes that recursiveness accounts for a basic feature of the structure of text.