Text type: definitions principles and classifications problems

The article is devoted to the scientific research into the text types and is based on the modern German language's material and some theoretical propositions both of German text linguistics and the linguistics of our country. Much attention is given to defining the term «text type», as there is no common and generally accepted definition of this concept. The main principles of text classification are expounded in the form of theses and their structure is described. It is also noted in the article, that the variety of approaches to the term «text type» is of great importance for modern linguistics.