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Functional grammar
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Functionalism (linguistics))
Functional Grammar is a model of grammar motivated by functions. The model was originally developed by Simon Dik at the University of Amsterdam in the 1980s, and has undergone several revisions ever since, the latest one being the integration of discourse as major component by Kees Hengeveld. This has led to a renaming of the theory to "Functional Discourse Grammar".
The notion of "function" in FG generalizes the standard distinction of grammatical functions such as subject and object. Constituents (parts of speech) of a linguistic utterance are assigned three types or levels of functions:
- Semantic function (Agent, Patient, Recipient, etc.), describing the role of participants in states of affairs or actions expressed
- Syntactic functions (Subject and Object), defining different perspectives of the presentation of in linguistic expression
- Pragmatic functions (Theme and Tail, Topic and Focus), defining the informational status of constituents, determined by the pragmatic context of the verbal interaction
- Functional grammar home page
- Dik, SC, The Theory of Functional Grammar (Part I: The Structure of the clause), 1989
- Hurford, J. (1990) Nativist and functional explanations in language acquisition. In I. M. Roca (ed.), Logical Issues in Language Acquisition, 85-136. Foris, Dordrecht.