scholarly journals Functional Grammar

1979 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Kay
Keyword(s):  
Language Production ◽  
Syntactic Processing ◽  
Functional Grammar ◽  
Abstract Machine ◽  
Functional Description ◽  
Equal Status ◽  
Grammatical Competence ◽  
Secondary Role ◽  
Grammatical Categories ◽  
Equal Importance

The term functional grammar has been used before, notably by Dik (1978). I risk adding to the number of its meanings here, and thus debasing its value, only because it is peculiarly apt for this new employment. I propose to outline a new grammatical formalism which, if it can be successfully developed, will be worthy of the name functional on three counts. First, it is required to function as part of a model of language production and comprehension. The formalism is interpretable by an abstract machine whose operation is intended to model tl1c syntactic processing of sentences by speakers and hearers indifferently. This is not to say that it is not also intended to represent a speaker's grammatical competence. Secondly, the formalism ascribes to every sentence, word, and phrase, a functional description which differs from the strnctural description of better known formalisms mainly by stressing the function mat a part plays in a whole rather than me position a part occupies in a sequence of omers. The names of grammatical categories, like S, NP, and VP will therefore play a secondary role to terms like subject, object, and modifier. Thirdly, properties that distinguish among logically equivalent sentences will have equal importance with properties that they share. In omer words, mis will be a functionalist view of grammar in which notions like topic and focus, given and new will have equal status with subject and predicate, positive and negative.

Grammatical Competence within L2 Communication: Language Production, Monitor Hypothesis, and Focus on Forms Instruction

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Moh. Rofid Fikroni
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Communicative Competence ◽  
Focus On Form ◽  
Grammatical Competence ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Speaking Skill ◽  
Focus On Forms ◽  
Learning Language

Bearing in mind that the learners’ speaking skill had become the main goal in learning language, grammatical competence is believed to have a big role within foreign language learners’ language production, especially in spoken form. Moreover, the learners’ grammatical competence is also closely related to the Monitor Hypothesis proposed by Krashen (1982) in which it says that the acquired system will function as monitor or editor to the language production. The students’ monitor performance will vary based on how they make use of their acquired system. They may use it optimally (monitor optimal user), overly (monitor over-user), or they may not use it at all (monitor under-user). Therefore, learners’ grammatical competence has its own role, which is very crucial, within learners’ language production, which is not only to produce the language, but also to monitor the language production itself. Because of this reason, focus on form instruction will give a great impact for students’ grammatical competence within their communicative competence. This paper aims to present ideas about the how crucial the role grammatical competence within learners’ L2 communication.

Dynamicity and dialogue

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-76
Author(s):  
J. Lachlan Mackenzie
Keyword(s):  
Language Production ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Functional Grammar ◽  
Ongoing Work ◽  
Communicative Process ◽  
History Of ◽  
Discourse Grammar ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Static Nature

The article surveys how Functional Discourse Grammar (FDG; Hengeveld & Mackenzie 2008) has responded to Simon Dik’s call for a functional grammar to have ‘psychological adequacy’ and draws parallels to similar initiatives from other approaches. After a brief history of what has later come to be known as cognitive adequacy, the impact of psycholinguistic notions on the architecture of FDG is discussed and exemplified with emphasis on how FDG confronts the tension between the static nature of a pattern model of grammar and the dynamicity of the communicative process. The article then turns to four ways in which FDG has responded in recent years to ongoing work in psycholinguistics. The first concerns how the incrementality of language production, i.e. the gradual earlier-to-later build-up of utterances, has inspired FDG’s coverage of fragmentary discourse acts and its Depth-First Principle. The second, pertaining to the role of prediction in language comprehension, is reflected in the countdown to a clause-final position PF. The third is priming, involving the reuse of elements of structure at all levels of analysis: this interferes with the mapping of function onto form in ways that have been explored in FDG. The fourth is dialogical alignment, the manner in which participants in dialogue mutually accommodate their language use; this has led to new understandings of the respective roles of FDG’s Conceptual and Contextual Components. Taken together, these developments have moved FDG towards modelling dialoguing interactants rather than an isolated speaker.

Grammatical competence is not a psychologically valid construct

2004 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 467-470 ◽  
Author(s):  
PATRICIA J. BROOKS
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Universal Grammar ◽  
Adult Child ◽  
Poor Performance ◽  
Linguistic Performance ◽  
Grammatical Competence ◽  
Adult Performance ◽  
Linguistic Demand ◽  
Linguistic Behaviour

It is not unusual for developmental psychologists to become frustrated with the theory of universal grammar (UG), whose proponents have tended to dismiss most research on children's language production and comprehension as irrelevant to explaining how human languages are acquired. This is because children's actual linguistic behaviour is presumed to reflect factors besides their grammatical competence, rendering most methods of sampling linguistic behaviour unsuitable for evaluating UG theory. This means, in practice, that UG proponents do not view performance errors as evidence against their hypothesis that grammatical knowledge is largely innate. When children perform at ceiling on a given task, this is usually taken as proof of their adultlike grammatical competence, while poor performance is dismissed as due to research design flaws or limitations in information processing capacities (e.g. working memory). Crain & Thornton (1998) attempt to eliminate what they consider to be post hoc processing accounts of children's linguistic behaviour by arguing, counter to Chomsky (1965) and many others, that children and adults share identical language processing mechanisms, and that linguistic performance directly reflects grammatical competence. Therefore, if UG principles are available from an early age, child and adult performance should be the same when tasks are properly constructed to avoid extra-linguistic demand characteristics (excepting adult–child differences predicted by parameter-setting or maturational models). It should not be surprising then that some psycholinguists, such as Drozd (target article), would find C&T to be misguided with respect to these issues, because children's linguistic behaviour surely differs from adults' in seemingly unpredictable ways.

scholarly journals The development of Alexander Bondarko’s ideas in the aspect of grammar of estimation theory

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 283-295
Author(s):  
Oxana Khaliman
Keyword(s):  
Estimation Theory ◽  
Discursive Practice ◽  
Dynamic Aspect ◽  
Functional Grammar ◽  
Functional Description ◽  
Active Type ◽  
Structural Peculiarities ◽  
Communicative Process ◽  
Evaluative Meaning ◽  
Type Grammar

The study of the functional particularity of grammatical units allowed to pay attention to their pragmatic importance in the discursive practice and communication. Based on the principles of linguistic functionalism, which is a basis of active type grammar, it is necessary to continue the study of grammatical units as one of the means of expressing evaluation in relation to their structural peculiarities with the communicative process. A. Bondarko is one of the founders of functional grammar. In his works he has created a systemic-functional description on the Russian grammatical system. Principles of the development of a dynamic aspect of the grammatical units functioning in the interaction with elements of different language levels are one of the postulates which underlie in the description of the expression of evaluative meaning by grammatical units, the principles of grammar of estimation. The article enlightens the principles of the theory of functional grammar, grammar of active type, that concern the problem of creation of grammar of estimation as a complex description of grammatical means for expressing estimation meanings; A. Bondarko’s ideas of functional grammar that are significant for the theory of grammar of estimation are described in the article.

PROJECTION OF MULTI-WORDED LEXICAL ENTITIES IN AN INFLECTIONAL LANGUAGE

1995 ◽  
Vol 09 (06) ◽  
pp. 1015-1028 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. SENGUPTA ◽  
B.B. CHAUDHURI
Keyword(s):  
Syntactic Processing ◽  
Functional Grammar ◽  
Implementation Phase ◽  
Lexical Functional Grammar ◽  
Lexical Items ◽  
Two Phases ◽  
Traditional Approaches ◽  
Level Of Analysis

A formalism for lexical projection in a Lexical Functional Grammar based syntactic processing environment, where lexical items may consist of more than one word, has been discussed. It is an extension of an earlier formalism that assumed single-worded lexical entities. It has been shown that traditional approaches of handling multi-worded lexical entities in an LFG environment are not quite suitable for Bangla, the language under study, because these approaches assume configurationality whereas Bangla is non-configurational. A “Supra-Lexical” level of analysis has been proposed and a formalism for such analyses introduced. The proposed formalism consists of two phases—an off-line specification phase and an implementation phase. Some tools that are required, along with the syntax for supra-lexical specification has been introduced with examples. Compilation of the specifications has been discussed.

scholarly journals THE CATEGORY OF VOICE IN VIETNAMESE: A SYSTEMIC FUNCTIONAL DESCRIPTION

2021 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Hoang Van Van
Keyword(s):  
Systemic Functional Linguistics ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Comprehensive Approach ◽  
European Language ◽  
Functional Grammar ◽  
Research Application ◽  
Systemic Functional Grammar ◽  
Functional Description ◽  
Comprehensive View ◽  
Opening Up

This article is a functional description of the category of voice – arguably, one of the most slippery notions in the grammar of Vietnamese that seems to resist any satisfactory treatment. The theoretical framework employed for describing and interpreting the category is Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL). Three questions which form the basis of this study are: (1) “Does the system of VOICE exist in Vietnamese?”; if so, (2) “What are the delicate options available in the environment of VOICE in Vietnamese?”; and (3) “How can these delicate options be distinguished from the SFL perspective?” The answers to these questions show that unlike formal grammatical descriptions, VOICE exists in Vietnamese as a system; the environment of VOICE opens up a number of delicate options; and these delicate options can be distinguished along the three metafunctions: experiential, interpersonal, and textual. The answers to these questions also show that SFL is a highly relevant framework for describing and interpreting the system of VOICE in Vietnamese: SFL helps us investigate the category from a number of dimensions, enabling us to have a more comprehensive view of it. The study contributes to the application of SFL to the description of Vietnamese grammar - a non-Indo-European language, opening up new potentials for a comprehensive approach to the description of a Systemic Functional Grammar of Vietnamese for research, application, and teaching purposes.

scholarly journals Some thoughts on the Slavic verbal system (a typological approach)

2021 ◽  
Vol 77 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-96
Author(s):  
Anna Kretschmer
Keyword(s):  
Theoretical Basis ◽  
The Other ◽  
Functional Category ◽  
Verbal System ◽  
Functional Description ◽  
Slavic Languages ◽  
System A ◽  
Grammatical Categories ◽  
Typological Approach ◽  
Verb Categories

This paper deals with the essential verb categories - the grammatical categories of tense, aspect and mode, as well as with actionality as a lexical and functional category. These categories coexist in the Slavic languages in manifold correlations, determined by the type of language. The paper is focused on tense as the central verb category. In the first part, there is a typological approach to the Slavic verbal system proposed, as a base for its systematic functional description and interpretation. Two prototypes of the verbal system in Slavia can be postulated - a southern and a northern one. The Slavic languages of the Balkan linguistic area (Sprachbund) - Bulgarian and Macedonian - belong to the southern prototype, while the East Slavic languages and Polish belong to the northern prototype. The remaining Slavic languages represent various transitional phases from one prototype to the other. The actual version of the model offered in this paper is synchronically based, but the diachronic approach is considered indispensable for an adequate modelling of the Slavic verbal system. In this context, the paper presents some critical remarks on the modern Slavic grammaticography, with key focus on its methodological and theoretical basis. The last part of the paper presents some approaches to and interpretations of the tense category in some selected recent works.

Psycholinguistics

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giulia M. L. Bencini
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Construction Grammar ◽  
Syntactic Processing ◽  
Stage Model ◽  
Two Stage ◽  
Lexical Representations ◽  
Structure Building ◽  
Straightforward Interpretation

This chapter focuses on psycholinguistics of language production. It provides empirical evidence for and against the two-stage model of language production, which assumes separate levels for functional (semantic and syntactic) processing, as well as for positional processing. The chapter also discusses the results of studies supporting the existence of lexically independent structure building operations in language production in addition to lexical representations. It also contends that lexically independent structural processes often receive a straightforward interpretation as abstract constructions in a Construction Grammar framework.

scholarly journals КАТЕГОРИАЛНОСТ И НЕКАТЕГОРИАЛНОСТ В СИСТЕМАТА НА РУСКИТЕ ЧИСЛИТЕЛНИ ИМЕНА (В СЪПОСТАВКА С БЪЛГАРСКИ) / CATEGORIALITY AND NON-CATEGORIALITY IN THE SYSTEM OF RUSSIAN NUMERALS (IN COMPARISION WITH BULGARIAN)

2021 ◽  
Vol 68 (PR) ◽  
pp. 193-204
Author(s):  
ENCHO TILEV
Keyword(s):  
Russian Language ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Correct Classification ◽  
Functional Grammar ◽  
Part Of Speech ◽  
European Languages ◽  
Grammatical Categories ◽  
Theoretical Linguistics ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Case Number

Few Indo-European languages categorize numerals as an independent part of speech. In all languages numerals are used to indicate the same extralinguistic quantity although in theoretical linguistics, researchers still argue for their correct classification. The aim of this paper is to take a closer look at some of the problems related to the categorical and non-categorial meanings of numerals in Russian and Bulgarian. The lexical peculiarity of the part of speech under study is intertwined with the functioning of the grammatical categories of case, number and gender. Although from a morphological point of view the grammatical categories are represented very sparsely, the available forms are characterized by exceptional originality and comprehensiveness, which is a further attestation to the connection between categoriality and noncategoriality. The analysis gives grounds to believe that numerals are the only part of speech in which non-categorial manifestations exceed categorial ones, which is a reason for further research within this class of words. Keywords: grammatical categoriality, noncategoriality, functional grammar, gram¬matical categories, Russian language, Bulgarian language, numerals

scholarly journals Aligning English grammar testing with European language standards

2015 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 129-152
Author(s):  
Radmila Bodric
Keyword(s):  
Language Production ◽  
Threshold Level ◽  
European Language ◽  
Grammatical Competence ◽  
English Grammar ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Given ◽  
Grammatical Structures ◽  
Basic Level

In recent years, foreign language testing has gained in significance with the advent of The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (2001) (CEFR), a European language document which set comparable standards for learning, teaching and assessing foreign languages. The CEFR was used to set the research aim of this paper - testing grammar at level B2. The main aim of the research was to determine grammatical competence at level B2 and additional aims included: (a) determining which particular areas of grammar need to be learned by students at level B2, (b) formulating grammatical descriptors for each individual area of grammar, (c) determining the test?s threshold level which would fulfil the criteria for grammatical competence at level B2, and (d) determining the extent to which students have mastered the given areas. The pre-testing was followed by the main testing on the sample of 164 students in two secondary schools. The results indicated that the quantity and quality of grammatical competence was lower than expected: 47% of the population failed to fulfil the basic level of grammatical competence. The causes may be attributed to the factors of a subjective and objective nature. Level B2 is demanding qualitatively as well as quantitatively, regarding both the formal and the functional complexity and scope of language use, which requires intensive language production, high levels of motivation and sound working habits in order to master the given grammatical structures.

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