LINGUIST List 10.669

Thu May 6 1999

Books: Functional Grammar

Editor for this issue: Scott Fults <scottlinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. Paul Peranteau, Functional Grammar & Verbal Interaction, The Structure of the Lexicon

John Benjamins Publishing would like to announce the publication of these
two works in Functional Grammar a la Simon Dik:

Functional Grammar and Verbal Interaction.
Mike HANNAY and A. Machtelt BOLKESTEIN (eds)
Studies in Language Companion Series 44
US & Canada: 1 55619 930 9 / USD 69.00 (Hardcover)
Rest of world: 90 272 3047 1 / NLG 138.00 (Hardcover)

Functional Grammar (FG) as set out by Simon Dik is the ambitious
combination of a functionalist approach to the study of language with
a consistent formalization of the underlying structures which it
recognizes as relevant. The present volume represents the attempts
made within the FG framework to expand the theory so as to cover a
wider empirical domain than is usual for highly formalized linguistic
theories, namely that of written and spoken discourse, while retaining
its methodological precision. The book covers an array of phenomena,
both from monologue and from dialogue material, relating to discourse
structure, speaker aims and goals, action theory, the flow of
information, illocutionary force, modality, etc. The central question
underlying most of the contributions concerns the relation between,
and the division of labour between the existing grammatical module of
FG on the one hand, and a discourse or pragmatic module capable of
handling such discourse phenomena on the other. What emerges are new
proposals for the formal treatment of for instance illocutionary force
and the informational status of constituents. Many of the data
discussed are from 'real' language rather than being invented, and
samples from various languages other than English (Spanish, Polish,
Latin, French) are examined and used as illustrations of the
theoretical problem to be solved. Readership: theoretical linguists
and discourse and conversation analysts

The Structure of the Lexicon in Functional Grammar.
Hella OLBERTZ, Kees HENGEVELD and Jes\250s S\225nchez GARC\205A (eds.)
Studies in Language Companion Series 43
US & Canada: 1 55619 929 5 / USD 69.00 (Hardcover)
Rest of world: 90 272 3046 3 / NLG 138.00 (Hardcover)

The papers collected in this volume concern five different aspects of
the role of the lexicon in the theory of Functional Grammar such as
developed by Simon C. Dik and his co-workers. The volume starts off
with an eminently practical section on the Functional-Lexematic Model,
a lexicological and lexicographical system which has largely been
inspired by Dik's principle of stepwise lexical decomposition. In
addition to a theoretical introduction to the model, applications to
English, German and Spanish are presented. The second part of the
volume deals with the derivation of action-nouns, pseudo-reflexive
verbs and causative constructions, thus offering new perspectives on
predicate formation within Functional Grammar. This is followed by a
section that centres around an important problem related to valency
which up to now has had almost no attention within Functional Grammar:
the question of how to account for the collocational properties of
predicates. The fourth part of the book discusses (non-prototypical)
transitive verbs and their relation to the typology of states of
affairs, which leads to proposals of possible adaptations of Dik's
typology. The final section focusses on the relationship between the
lexicon and the underlying structure of the clause. Three proposals of
varying degrees of radicalism are presented to reconsider this
relation.

			John Benjamins Publishing Co. 
Offices:	Philadelphia			Amsterdam
Websites: 	http://www.benjamins.com	http://www.benjamins.nl
E-mail:		servicebenjamins.com		customer.servicesbenjamins.nl
Phone:		+215 836-1200			+31 20 6762325
Fax: 		+215 836-1204			+31 20 6739773

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