Grammar: Functional Approaches

Abstract

The term ‘functional’ or ‘functionalist’ has been applied to any approach to grammar that puts the primary emphasis on explanation in terms of factors outside the formal structure of a language. The four most significant functional approaches can be characterized in terms of the types of nonformal explanations that are put forward, and the position taken vis-à-vis formalist explanations of grammar. The autonomist functionalist approach proposes that supposedly structural constraints on the operation of grammatical rules are explained by semantic factors and/or information structure in discourse. Autonomist functionalists otherwise accept formalist explanations for grammatical structures. Typological functionalism draws on evidence from cross-linguistic comparison of grammatical structures. Typological functionalists argue that universal constraints on grammatical structure have their source in cognitive and/or discourse factors, and purely structural generalizations are language-particular. Cognitive linguistics argues that the basic structural elements of grammar are not purely formal categories but represent a conceptualization of experience encoded in language. Finally, discourse functionalism argues that basic grammatical structures are an emergent product of interpersonal interaction in discourse. The positive contributions, limitations and complementarity of all four approaches will be described in this article.