Functional discourse grammar: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 17:35, 14 May 2024

Latest revision as of 18:48, 28 May 2025

(3 intermediate revisions by 2 users not shown)

Line 1:

{{Linguistics}}

'''Functional grammar''' ('''FG''') and '''functional discourse grammar''' ('''FDG''') are [[grammar]] models and theories motivated by [[functional theories of grammar]]. These theories explain how [[Natural language|linguistic]] utterances are shaped, based on the goals and knowledge of natural language users. In doing so, it contrasts with Chomskyan [[transformational grammar]]. Functional discourse grammar has been developed as a successor to functional grammar, attempting to be more psychologically and pragmatically adequate than functional grammar.<ref name="Hengeveld2008">{{cite book|first1=Kees|last1=Hengeveld|first2=J. Lachlan|last2=Mackenzie|date=August 2008|title=Functional Discourse Grammar: A Typologically-Based Theory of Language Structure|___location=Oxford|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-927811-4|url=http://www.oup.com/uk/catalogue/?ci=9780199278114}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|series=Linguistic Insights, Studies in Language and Communication|volume=26|editor1=Mackenzie, J. Lachlan|editor2=Gómez-González, María de los Ángeles|title=Studies in Functional Discourse Grammar|publisher=Peter Lang Publishing Group|year=2005|isbn=978-3-03910-696-7|url=http://www.peterlang.com/Index.cfm?vID=10696&vLang=E|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120907183048/http://www.peterlang.com/Index.cfm?vID=10696&vLang=E|url-status=deviateddead|archive-date=2012-09-07|accessdate=2010-06-12|archivedate=2012-09-07|archiveurl=https://archive.today/20120907183048/http://www.peterlang.com/Index.cfm?vID=10696&vLang=E}}</ref>

The top-level unit of analysis in functional discourse grammar is the [[discourse]] move, not the [[Sentence (linguistics)|sentence]] or the [[clause]]. This is a principle that sets functional discourse grammar apart from many other [[linguistics|linguistic]] theories, including its predecessor functional grammar.

== History ==

Functional grammar (FG) is a model of [[grammar]] motivated by [[Functional theories of grammar|functions]],<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Hurford|first1=J|year=1990|title=Nativist and functional explanations in language acquisition|journal=Logical Issues in Language Acquisition|editor-last=Roca|editor-first=I. M|pages=85–136|___location=Foris, Dordrecht|doi=10.1515/9783110870374-007|isbn=9783110870374|url=http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/hurford90nativist.html|access-date=2010-06-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080516095612/http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/hurford90nativist.html|archive-date=2008-05-16|url-status=deviateddead|accessdate=2010url-06-12|archivedateaccess=2008-05-16|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080516095612/http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/hurford90nativist.htmlsubscription}}</ref> as Dik's thesis<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dik |first1=Simon C. |title=Coordination: its implications for the theory of general linguistics |date=1968 |publisher=North-Holland |___location=Amsterdam |isbn=9780720460285}}</ref> pointed towards issues with [[generative grammar]] and its analysis of coordination back then, and proposed to solve them with a new theory focused on e.g. concepts such as [[Subject (grammar)|subject]] and [[Object (grammar)|object]]. The model was originally developed by [[Simon C. Dik]] at the [[University of Amsterdam]] in the 1970s,<ref>{{cite book|last=Dik|first=Simon C.|title=The Theory of Functional Grammar, Parts 1 & 2|edition=1|year=1989}}</ref> and has undergone several revisions since then. The latest standard version under the original name is laid out in the 1997 edition,<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qeMLE_5uvHcC|last=Dik|first=Simon C.|year=1997|title=The Theory of Functional Grammar, Part 1: The Structure of the Clause|edition=2|___location=Berlin|publisher=Mouton de Gruyter|isbn= 9783110154047}}</ref> published shortly after Dik's death. The latest version features the expansion of the model with a pragmatic/interpersonal module by [[Kees Hengeveld]] and Lachlan Mackenzie.<ref name="Hengeveld2008" /> This has led to a renaming of the theory to functional discourse grammar. This type of grammar is quite distinct from [[systemic functional grammar]] as developed by [[Michael Halliday]] and many other linguists since the 1970s.

The notion of "function" in FG generalizes the standard distinction of [[grammatical function]]s such as [[grammatical subject|subject]] and [[grammatical object|object]]. Constituents ([[parts of speech]]) of a linguistic [[utterance]] are assigned three types or levels of functions: