Functional Approaches To Language

Functionalism, as characterized by Allen, (2007:254) "holds that linguistic structures can only be understood and explained with reference to the semantic and communicative functions of language, whose primary function is to be a vehicle for social interaction among human beings." Since the 1970s, inspired by the work of Jespersen, Bolinger, Dik, Halliday, and Chafe, functionalism has been attached to a variety of movements and models making major contributions to linguistic theory and to various subfields within linguistics, such as syntax, discourse, language acquisition, cognitive linguistics, typology, and documentary linguistics. Further, functional approaches have had a major impact outside linguistics in fields such as psychology and education, both in terms of theory and application. The main goal of functionalist approaches is to clarify the dynamic relationship between form and function (Thompson 2003:53). Functionalist perspectives have gained more ground over the past decades with more linguists resorting to functional explanations to account for linguistic structure. The authors in this volume present the current state of functional approaches to linguistic inquiry expanding our knowledge of language and linguistics.

This volume offers a variety of viewpoints on the functional approach to the study of language. After an exposition of the Prague School functionalism, and Dik's and Halliday's functional approaches, it presents a wider area of text-linguistic, psycholinguistic, sociolinguistic, theoretical, descriptive and applied issues from a functional point of view, testifying of the very wide-spread and in-depth impact of functionalist thought on the present-day linguistic scene.

This volume contains functional approaches to the description of language and culture, and language and cultural change. The approaches taken by the authors range from cognitive approaches including Stratificational grammar to more socially oriented ones including Systemic Functional linguistics. The volume is organized into two sections. The first section ‘Functional Approaches to the Structure of Language: Theory and Practice’ starts with contributions developing a Stratificational model; these are followed by contributions focusing on some related functional model of language; and by articles describing some particular set of language phenomena. In the second section ‘Functional Approaches to the History of Language and Linguistics’ general studies of language change are addressed first; a second group of contributions examines language change, lexicon and culture; and the last cluster of contributions treats the history of linguistics and culture.

One of the most fundamental and recurring issues in the social sciences--the relation between language and thought--is examined in this work from a broad and coherent interdisciplinary perspective. Many of the great historical issues are also addressed and newly examined such as: the multifunctionality of language, the role of "natural logic" in the structuring of linguistic rules, and the place of linguistic disambiguation and repair in particular cultures.

This book, which gathers in one place the theories of 10 leading cognitive and functional linguists, represents a new approach that may define the next era in the history of psychology: It promises to give psychologists a new appreciation of what this variety of linguistics can offer their study of language and communication. In addition, it provides cognitive-functional linguists new models for presenting their work to audiences outside the boundaries of traditional linguistics. Thus, it serves as an excellent text for courses in psycholinguistics, and appeal to students and researchers in cognitive science and functional linguistics.

Volume one of a two volume set outlining and comparing three approaches to the study of language labelled 'structural-functionalist': functional grammar (FG); role and reference grammar (RRG); and systemic functional grammar (SFG).

This book, which gathers in one place the theories of 10 leading cognitive and functional linguists, represents a new approach that may define the next era in the history of psychology: It promises to give psychologists a new appreciation of what this variety of linguistics can offer their study of language and communication. In addition, it provides cognitive-functional linguists new models for presenting their work to audiences outside the boundaries of traditional linguistics. Thus, it serves as an excellent text for courses in psycholinguistics, and appeal to students and researchers in cognitive science and functional linguistics.

From the point of view of psychology and cognitive science, much of modern linguistics is too formal and mathematical to be of much use. The New Psychology of Language volumes broke new ground by introducing functional and cognitive approaches to language structure in terms already familiar to psychologists, thus defining the next era in the scientific study of language. The Classic Edition volumes re-introduce some of the most important cognitive and functional linguists working in the field. They include a new introduction by Michael Tomasello in which he reviews what has changed since the volumes were first published and highlights the fundamental insights of the original authors. The New Psychology of Language volumes are a must-read for anyone interested in understanding how cognitive and functional linguistics has become the thriving perspective on the scientific study of language that it is today.