Crucial Readings in Functional Grammar

397 Pages·2005·8.413 MB·English

by  Matthew P. Anstey, J. Lachlan Mackenzie (eds.)

Crucial Readings in Functional Grammar
W
DE
G
Functional Grammar Series 26
Editors
Casper de Groot
J. Lachlan Mackenzie
Mouton de Gruyter
Berlin · New York
Crucial Readings
in Functional Grammar
edited by
Matthew P. Anstey
J. Lachlan Mackenzie
Mouton de Gruyter
Berlin · New York
Mouton de Gruyter (formerly Mouton, The Hague)
is a Division of Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin.
© Printed on acid-free paper which falls within the guidelines
of the ANSI to ensure permanence and durability.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Crucial readings in functional grammar / edited by Matthew P. Anstey,
J. Lachlan Mackenzie.
p. cm. — (Functional grammar series ; 26)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 3-11-017640-8 (alk. paper) - ISBN 3-11-017641-6 pbk. :
alk. paper)
1. Functionalism (Linguistics) I. Anstey, Matthew P. II. Mak-
kenzie, J. Lachlan. III. Series.
P147.C78 2005
40Γ.Γ8—dc22
2004023126
Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Bibliothek
Die Deutsche Bibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie;
detailed bibliographic data is available in the Internet at <http://dnb.ddb.de>.
ISBN 3-11-017640-8 he.
ISBN 3-11-017641-6 pb.
© Copyright 2005 by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, D-10785 Berlin.
All rights reserved, including those of translation into foreign languages. No part of this book
may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publisher.
Printed in Germany.
Table of contents
Introduction
Matthew P. Anstey and J. Lachlan Mackenzie vii
Layers and operators in Functional Grammar
Kees Hengeveld ι
Further Reading 41
Toward a unified analysis of terms and predications
Jan Rijkhoff 47
Further Reading 75
Parts of speech
Kees Hengeveld 79
Further Reading 107
Predicates as referring expressions
M. Evelien Keizer 109
Further Reading 137
Places and things
J. Lachlan Mackenzie 141
Further Reading 166
The hierarchical structure of the clause and the typology
of adverbial satellites
Simon C. Oik, Kees Hengeveld, Elseline Vester, and Co Vet 169
Further Reading 216
Semantic content and linguistic structure in Functional
Grammar. On the semantics of 'nounhood'
Peter Harder. 219
Further Reading 246
vi Table of contents
On assigning pragmatic functions in English
J. Lachlan Mackenzie and M. Evelien Keizer 249
Further Reading 276
The utterance as unit of description: implications for
Functional Grammar
Mike Hannay 281
Further Reading 296
The multilayered structure of the utterance
CoVet 299
Further Reading 323
Functional grammar and lexematics in lexicography
Leocadio Martin Mingorance 325
Further Reading 344
Appendix - Further references 349
Index of languages 365
Index of names 367
Index of subjects 373
Introduction
Matthew P. Anstey and J. Lachlan Mackenzie
The purpose of this book is to provide essential resources for the study of
Functional Grammar (FG) and its newest version, Functional Discourse
Grammar (FDG). It is designed for postgraduate students and prospective
researchers and seeks to add a crucial component to the existing standard
literature in this field. A complete introduction to F(D)G can be gained by
reading this book together with the following central texts:
1. Dik (1989), the major statement of the theory of Functional Grammar; this
book was republished posthumously - Simon Dik died in 1995 - in a slightly
updated form as Dik (1997a).
2. Dik (1997b), the companion volume to Dik (1997a), containing many applica-
tions of the theory.
3. Mackenzie and Gomez-Gonzalez (2004), in particular Hengeveld's (2004a,
2004b) presentation of FDG and Anstey's (2004) historical overview, which
follows the development of FG into FDG.
4. Hengeveld and Mackenzie (fc), the major book-length presentation of FDG.
These four central texts are best followed up by four additional texts:1
5. Relevant sections of Butler (2003), a two-volume comparative study of FG,
Systemic Functional Grammar, and Role & Reference Grammar.
6. De Groot and Hengeveld (2005), with many examples of the implementation
of FDG in a wide range of typologically disparate languages.
7. Mackenzie and Gomez-Gonzalez (fc), a collection of FDG articles.
8. Siewierska (1991), a sympathetic but critical presentation of FG for the inter-
ested linguist.
It is our strong conviction that contemporary debates in any linguistic
theory are only properly comprehended in the context of the history that
lies behind each of the positions held in those debates. In particular, the
emergence of FDG cannot be understood without a thorough knowledge of
the rivalling positions of those FG researchers in the nineties who turned their
attention to the relations both between grammar and discourse and between
semantics and interpersonal pragmatics. The selection of articles, all but one
viii Matthew P. Anstey and J. Lachlan Mackenzie
of which first appeared in the last decade of the twentieth century, has been
made with this in mind.
Each article chosen for inclusion can be seen as the starting-point - either
chronologically or in terms of prominence in the FG community - for
significant developments in Functional Grammar. The first article, for
example, introduced the concept of layering into FG, a development which
enormously increased the descriptive and explanatory power of the model.
Layering was immediately adopted by Dik (1989) and subsequently by most
researchers in the field. Analogously, Hannay's article on discourse moves
(ch. 10) had a catalytic effect upon the emergence of Functional Discourse
Grammar. Similar claims can be made for each of the articles in this book.
After each article, there is a brief text by the editors of this volume that lists
and summarizes the major publications sparked off by the article in question.
The purpose in each case is to assess the article's effects upon the debate
and to give an impression of the discussion by providing a bibliographical
pathway from the date of appearance of the article to the present. These texts
can thus be used as suggestions for further readings. Of course it is impos-
sible for texts of such brevity to do any justice to the publications mentioned.
The aim is merely to whet the reader's appetite. In addition, much more work
has been omitted than could be included; to some extent, the bibliographies
of the works recommended will point the reader to further relevant references.
As a further resource, this book also contains an Appendix with a list of books
and doctoral dissertations that employ or discuss the framework of FG.2
Further bibliographical assistance is available on the Functional Grammar
website, at www.functionalgrammar.com. where there is a searchable F(D)G
bibliography. This site also offers access to information about the Functional
Grammar Series in which this book is appearing and the electronically
accessible Web Papers in Functional Grammar (WPFG, previously known
as Working Papers in Functional Grammar). In addition, there is access to a
discussion list and information about courses, conferences, and so forth.
The major geographical centre of FG is in Amsterdam. Simon Dik was
Professor of Linguistics at the University of Amsterdam from 1967 to 1992,
and has been succeeded by Kees Hengeveld. This university continues to
be the powerhouse of FG, with active researchers at the Vrije Universiteit
Amsterdam and the University of Groningen. There are also major centres
of FG in Spain (Cordoba, Granada, La Laguna, La Rioja, Oviedo, UNED),
Denmark (Copenhagen and Arhus), Belgium (Antwerp), Morocco (Rabat),
and Brazil (Säo Jose do Rio Preto) as well as many individual researchers
Introduction ix
across the globe. The international nature of FG is reflected in the biennial
International Conferences on Functional Grammar (ICFG).
Functional Grammar received its first major presentation in Dik (1978).
It was to some extent an eclectic model, combining the explicitness and
generativity of Chomskyan grammar, the semantics of Case Grammar, the
syntax of Relational Grammar and (implicitly) the pragmatics of the Prague
School (Anstey 2004). Yet Dik succeeded in binding the various elements
together into a coherent theory that seeks to achieve adequacy in three
domains: (i) consistency with theories of social interaction; (ii) compat-
ibility with the major findings of psycholinguistics; and (iii) applicability to
languages of all types.
Work in the eighties was concerned above all with developing FG into
a full-fledged theory, with a stream of publications from a growing number
of researchers on such matters as word formation, the impact of pragmatics
on constituent order, the syntax of the noun phrase, and the provision of FG
accounts of hitherto undescribed languages. At the same time, there was
ongoing reflection on the foundations of the model as well as many applica-
tions in language teaching, business communication, knowledge engineering,
and so forth. Dik himself, together with several other researchers, became
increasingly interested in the computer implementation of the model as an
objective way of testing the generativity of the rules.
Many of the results of the work done in the eighties were incorporated
into Dik (1989), which retains the overall structure of the original model, but
with sophistications at almost every point. The most radical innovation was
the introduction of layering: whereas the underlying structures of 1978 had
been monoplanar, work by Vet (1986) and Hengeveld (this vol. [1989]) had
argued that interpersonal and ideational aspects of meaning should be repre-
sented separately, and that each of these is internally layered. The resultant
structure in Dik (1989) shows four nested layers, the highest representing
the Speech Act (an interpersonal feature) and the lowest the predicate (an
ideational feature). Layering was to become the central issue of the nineties
and is the focus of chapters 1, 2, 4, 6, and 10 of this book. Chapter 2, for
instance, shows how layering can be applied with profit to the analysis of the
noun phrase. Although the concept of layering was generally accepted, many
difficulties remained, both with implementing the layered structure in the
analysis of utterances and with constraining the application of such a power-
ful mechanism; the suggested further readings will give a good impression of
the debates that ensued.