functional grammar

A LINGUISTIC theory which was devised in the 1970s as an alternative to the abstract, FORMALIZED view of LANGUAGE presented by TRANSFORMATIONAL GRAMMAR, and relying instead on a PRAGMATIC view of language as social interaction. The approach focuses on the RULES which govern verbal interaction, seen as a form of co-operative activity, and on the rules (of SYNTAX, SEMANTICS and PHONOLOGY) which govern the linguistic expressions that are used as instruments of this activity. In this approach, a PREDICATE is taken to be the basic element of a ‘predication’; it is listed in the LEXICON in the form of a ‘predicate frame’, specified for the number of ARGUMENTS it takes (AGENT, GOAL, etc.). From predicate frames, ‘NUCLEAR predications’ are formed by inserting appropriate terms into the argument positions. ‘Full predications’ are formed from nuclear predications through the use of SATELLITES (e.g. MANNER, LOCATIVE).

Syntactic functions (interpreted semantically) and pragmatic functions are then ASSIGNED to elements of predication, and expressed in SENTENCES through the use of ‘expression rules’ (which deal with such matters as CASE, AGREEMENT, ORDER and INTONATION).