Functional discourse grammar: Difference between revisions

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'''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 journal|series=Linguistic Insights, Studies in Language and Communication|volume=26|editor-last=Mackenzie, J. Lachlan / 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}}</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|work=Logical Issues in Language Acquisition|editor-last=Roca|editor-first=I. M|pages=85–136|___location=Foris, Dordrecht|url=http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/hurford90nativist.html}}</ref> 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=http://books.google.com/books?id=qeMLE_5uvHcC&dq=theory+of+functional+grammar&lr=&source=gbs_summary_s&cad=0|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 3-11-015539-7|ISBN=3-11-015404-8}}</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:

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== Principles of functional discourse grammar ==

There are a number of principles that guide the analysis of natural language utterances according to functional discourse grammar.

Functional discourse grammar explains the phonology, morphosyntax, pragmatics and semantics in one linguistic theory. According to functional discourse grammar, linguistic utterances are built top-down in this order by deciding upon: