diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index 17b02e75..110102eb 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -6,12 +6,20 @@ where the formatting is also better._
 
 ## Dev version
 
+### New features
+
+- `type_text()` gains a `family` argument for controlling the font family,
+  separate to the main plot text elements. (#494 @grantmcdermott)
+
 ### Bug fixes
 
 - For bubble plots, we now drop the minimum legend category (label) if it is
   equal to 0. The previous behaviour was just an artifact of the `pretty` breaks
   algorithm that we use to create discrete legend categories. The interior plot
   elements, e.g. bubble points, are unaffected. (#498 @grantmcdermott)
+- `type_text()` now defaults to displaying `y` values if an explicit `labels`
+  arg is not provided, mirroring the behaviour of the base `text()` function.
+  (#501 @grantmcdermott) 
 
 ## 0.5.0
 
diff --git a/R/type_text.R b/R/type_text.R
index dca76325..90ca2819 100644
--- a/R/type_text.R
+++ b/R/type_text.R
@@ -1,32 +1,52 @@
 #' Text annotations plot type
 #'
-#' @description Type function for adding text annotations to a plot. This function allows
-#' you to draw text at specified (x,y) coordinates.
+#' @description Type function for adding text annotations to a plot at the
+#' specified (`x`,`y`) coordinates.
 #'
-#' @param labels Character vector of length 1 or of the same length as the
-#'  number of x,y coordinates.
-#' @param font Font to be used, following [graphics::par()].
+#' @param labels Character vector of length `1` or the same length as the
+#'   number of `x`,`y` coordinates. If left as `NULL`, then the labels will
+#'   automatically inherit the corresponding `y` values. See Examples.
+#' @param family The name of a font family. Default of `NULL` means that the
+#' family will be the same as the main plot text, following
+#' \code{\link[graphics]{par}}. Note that if a `family` argument is provided,
+#' then `vfont` (below) will automatically be ignored.
+#' @param font Integer giving the font face to be used,
+#' following \code{\link[graphics]{par}}. On most devices, the mapping is: `1` =
+#' regular, `2` = bold, `3` = italic, `4` = bold italic, and `5` = symbol.
 #' @param xpd Logical value or `NA` denoting text clipping behaviour, following
-#'  [graphics::par()].
+#'  \code{\link[graphics]{par}}.
 #' @param srt Numeric giving the desired string rotation in degrees.
 #' @param clim Numeric giving the lower and upper limits of the character
 #'   expansion (`cex`) normalization for bubble charts.
 #' @inheritParams graphics::text
 #' @examples
+#' # simplest case (no labels), will auto revert to y labels
+#' tinyplot(1:12, type = "text")
+#'
+#' # pass explicit `labels` arg if you want specific text
+#' tinyplot(1:12, type = "text", labels = month.abb)
+#'
+#' # for advanced customization, it's safer to pass args through `type_text()`
+#' tinyplot(1:12, type = type_text(
+#'   labels = month.abb, family = "HersheyScript", srt = -20))
+#'
+#' # same principles apply to grouped and/or facet data
 #' tinyplot(mpg ~ hp | factor(cyl),
 #'   data = mtcars,
 #'   type = type_text(
 #'     labels = row.names(mtcars),
+#'     family = "HersheySans",
 #'     font = 2,
 #'     adj = 0
 #'   )
 #' )
 #'
-#' # to avoid clipping text at the plot region, we can use xpd = NA
+#' # tip: use `xpd = NA` to avoid clipping text at the plot region
 #' tinyplot(mpg ~ hp | factor(cyl),
 #'   data = mtcars,
 #'   type = type_text(
 #'     labels = row.names(mtcars),
+#'     family = "HersheySans",
 #'     font = 2,
 #'     adj = 0,
 #'     xpd = NA
@@ -34,9 +54,29 @@
 #' )
 #'
 #' @export
-type_text = function(labels, adj = NULL, pos = NULL, offset = 0.5, vfont = NULL, font = NULL, xpd = NULL, srt = 0, clim = c(0.5, 2.5)) {
+type_text = function(
+  labels = NULL,
+  adj = NULL,
+  pos = NULL,
+  offset = 0.5,
+  family = NULL,
+  font = NULL,
+  vfont = NULL,
+  xpd = NULL,
+  srt = 0,
+  clim = c(0.5, 2.5)
+) {
   out = list(
-    draw = draw_text(adj = adj, pos = pos, offset = offset, vfont = vfont, font = font, xpd = xpd, srt = srt),
+    draw = draw_text(
+      adj = adj,
+      pos = pos,
+      offset = offset,
+      vfont = vfont,
+      family = family,
+      font = font,
+      xpd = xpd,
+      srt = srt
+    ),
     data = data_text(labels = labels, clim = clim),
     name = "text"
   )
@@ -44,17 +84,23 @@ type_text = function(labels, adj = NULL, pos = NULL, offset = 0.5, vfont = NULL,
   return(out)
 }
 
-data_text = function(labels, clim = c(0.5, 2.5)) {
+data_text = function(labels = NULL, clim = c(0.5, 2.5)) {
   fun = function(datapoints, legend_args, cex = NULL, ...) {
+    if (is.null(labels)) {
+      labels = datapoints$y
+    }
     if (length(labels) != 1 && length(labels) != nrow(datapoints)) {
       msg = sprintf("`labels` must be of length 1 or %s.", nrow(datapoints))
       stop(msg, call. = FALSE)
     }
     datapoints$labels = labels
-    if (is.factor(datapoints$x)) datapoints$x = as.numeric(datapoints$x)
-    if (is.factor(datapoints$y)) datapoints$y = as.numeric(datapoints$y)
+    if (is.factor(datapoints$x)) {
+      datapoints$x = as.numeric(datapoints$x)
+    }
+    if (is.factor(datapoints$y)) {
+      datapoints$y = as.numeric(datapoints$y)
+    }
 
-    # browser()
     bubble = FALSE
     bubble_cex = 1
     if (!is.null(cex) && length(cex) == nrow(datapoints)) {
@@ -89,13 +135,34 @@ data_text = function(labels, clim = c(0.5, 2.5)) {
   return(fun)
 }
 
-draw_text = function(adj = NULL, pos = NULL, offset = 0.5, vfont = NULL, font = NULL, xpd = NULL, srt = 0) {
-  if (is.null(xpd)) xpd = par("xpd")
+draw_text = function(
+  adj = NULL,
+  pos = NULL,
+  offset = 0.5,
+  vfont = NULL,
+  family = NULL,
+  font = NULL,
+  xpd = NULL,
+  srt = 0
+) {
+  if (is.null(xpd)) {
+    xpd = par("xpd")
+  }
+  if (!is.null(family)) {
+    vfont = NULL
+  }
   fun = function(ix, iy, ilabels, icol, icex, ...) {
     text(
-      x = ix, y = iy, labels = ilabels, col = icol,
-      adj = adj, pos = pos, offset = offset,
-      vfont = vfont, font = font,
+      x = ix,
+      y = iy,
+      labels = ilabels,
+      col = icol,
+      adj = adj,
+      pos = pos,
+      offset = offset,
+      family = family,
+      font = font,
+      vfont = vfont,
       xpd = xpd,
       srt = srt,
       cex = icex
diff --git a/man/type_text.Rd b/man/type_text.Rd
index 8b930e26..03879c98 100644
--- a/man/type_text.Rd
+++ b/man/type_text.Rd
@@ -5,20 +5,22 @@
 \title{Text annotations plot type}
 \usage{
 type_text(
-  labels,
+  labels = NULL,
   adj = NULL,
   pos = NULL,
   offset = 0.5,
-  vfont = NULL,
+  family = NULL,
   font = NULL,
+  vfont = NULL,
   xpd = NULL,
   srt = 0,
   clim = c(0.5, 2.5)
 )
 }
 \arguments{
-\item{labels}{Character vector of length 1 or of the same length as the
-number of x,y coordinates.}
+\item{labels}{Character vector of length \code{1} or the same length as the
+number of \code{x},\code{y} coordinates. If left as \code{NULL}, then the labels will
+automatically inherit the corresponding \code{y} values. See Examples.}
 
 \item{adj}{one or two values in \eqn{[0, 1]} which specify the x
     (and optionally y) adjustment (\sQuote{justification}) of the
@@ -36,16 +38,23 @@ number of x,y coordinates.}
     distance (\sQuote{offset}) of the text label from the specified
     coordinate in fractions of a character width.}
 
+\item{family}{The name of a font family. Default of \code{NULL} means that the
+family will be the same as the main plot text, following
+\code{\link[graphics]{par}}. Note that if a \code{family} argument is provided,
+then \code{vfont} (below) will automatically be ignored.}
+
+\item{font}{Integer giving the font face to be used,
+following \code{\link[graphics]{par}}. On most devices, the mapping is: \code{1} =
+regular, \code{2} = bold, \code{3} = italic, \code{4} = bold italic, and \code{5} = symbol.}
+
 \item{vfont}{\code{NULL} for the current font family, or a character
     vector of length 2 for \code{\link[grDevices]{Hershey}} vector
     fonts.  The first element of
     the vector selects a typeface and the second element selects a
     style.  Ignored if \code{labels} is an expression.}
 
-\item{font}{Font to be used, following \code{\link[graphics:par]{graphics::par()}}.}
-
 \item{xpd}{Logical value or \code{NA} denoting text clipping behaviour, following
-\code{\link[graphics:par]{graphics::par()}}.}
+\code{\link[graphics]{par}}.}
 
 \item{srt}{Numeric giving the desired string rotation in degrees.}
 
@@ -53,24 +62,37 @@ number of x,y coordinates.}
 expansion (\code{cex}) normalization for bubble charts.}
 }
 \description{
-Type function for adding text annotations to a plot. This function allows
-you to draw text at specified (x,y) coordinates.
+Type function for adding text annotations to a plot at the
+specified (\code{x},\code{y}) coordinates.
 }
 \examples{
+# simplest case (no labels), will auto revert to y labels
+tinyplot(1:12, type = "text")
+
+# pass explicit `labels` arg if you want specific text
+tinyplot(1:12, type = "text", labels = month.abb)
+
+# for advanced customization, it's safer to pass args through `type_text()`
+tinyplot(1:12, type = type_text(
+  labels = month.abb, family = "HersheyScript", srt = -20))
+
+# same principles apply to grouped and/or facet data
 tinyplot(mpg ~ hp | factor(cyl),
   data = mtcars,
   type = type_text(
     labels = row.names(mtcars),
+    family = "HersheySans",
     font = 2,
     adj = 0
   )
 )
 
-# to avoid clipping text at the plot region, we can use xpd = NA
+# tip: use `xpd = NA` to avoid clipping text at the plot region
 tinyplot(mpg ~ hp | factor(cyl),
   data = mtcars,
   type = type_text(
     labels = row.names(mtcars),
+    family = "HersheySans",
     font = 2,
     adj = 0,
     xpd = NA