Throughout the last decade, text typology, and genre analysis, in particular, have enjoyed immense popularity. Nevertheless, there is still no general consensus on the meaning of the term. The aim of this article is to point out a number of classificatory categories which can be used to classify as well as explain ways in which types of discourse may usefully be categorized and accounted for. Terminological problems and considerations, comprising notions such as text and discourse, register, genre, and text type, discourse purpose, communicative purpose or communicative function, etc. are dealt with. The article does not claim any exhaustive coverage. A framework, comprising a classification into registers and genres, with communicative function and text type as crucial categories within a discourse framework of field, tenor and mode is suggested. This framework offers guidelines for identifying and generating conventions and functions of language; the implications for translating are discussed.