Abstract
This chapter considers the notion functional category and concludes that, at least as far as overt words are concerned, the notion is ill founded. Complementizers (Comp) have no distinctive and shared characteristic, and Determiners are all pronouns that are distinguished only by taking a common noun as complement. It discusses the status of the construct Functional Word Category (FWC), rather than the more general question of functional categories. Then it moves to the categories Complementizer and Determiner, which are among the most frequently quoted examples of FWC. Two standard definitions of FWC: as a class of function words and as a closed class, are considered. The chapter shows that neither of these two concepts is suitable as a basis for FWC. The chapter concludes by saying that FWC plays no part in grammar, though there may be a small role for Function Word. Keywords: Complementizer; Determiner; function words; Functional Word Category (FWC); grammar; pronoun; valency
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
