Overview of document structure

The five component Document Model:

SYNTAX Interpretation Realisation $Reality$ / $Content$ / $Architecture$ $Layout$ $Appearance$

Explanations:

Architecture:

the core component which defines the document as an entity with media-independent structure.
Example: the chapter, section, subsection, paragraph, sentence, ... structure of a document which remains constant from one edition, printing, media version to another.

Meaning interpretation:

The relation of a document to the real world which it describes, represents, etc.

Content:

Relations between components of meaning of a document, perhaps formulated as a semantic network (intensional meaning).
Example: the network of meaning relationships between objects, properties, events with which the document is concerned. The content relates to the logical contexts of "sense", "intensional meaning" Sinn.

Reality:

The actual physical reality referred to by the document (extensional meaning).
Example: the domain in the real world with objects, events to which the document may be applied in actual instances of use.

Media interpretation:

The relation of a document to its physical appearance.

Layout:

Relations between the physical parts of a document, e.g. binding, pages, ... (intensional rendering).
Example: the "print make-up" of a document in terms of character, hyphenation, line, pagination, volume properties, or the relations between the files and other text objects which make up a hypertext.

Appearance:

Physical realisation of actual copies of a document in a concrete medium (extensional rendering).
Example: the realisation of a print document with actual marks (ink dots or other areas, paper quality, or electronically, with dependence on actual screen properties, illumination.

Most current document models simply distinguish between two levels: the rendering level and the logical level (the terminology varies). But there is much more to it than that from the linguistic point of view. The components of the document model are entirely analogous to traditional distinctions in grammar, and the distinctions made there are valid at the document level:

Architecture: syntax, grammar

Meaning interpretation: semantics, semantic interpretation

Content: logical form

Reality domain model

Media interpretation: phonetic (& graphic) interpretation

Layout: phonology, relational phonological structure

Appearance: phonetic domain(s), absolute phonetic events

Indeed, the general model can be extended over a hierarchy of units of language of increasing "rank", "size", "granularity":