Functionalism Essay

1591 Words7 Pages
Functions, Functionalism, and Linguistics Grand Ballroom 3 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM Organizers: Shannon T. Bischoff (Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne) Craig Hancock (University at Albany) Carmen Jany (California State University, San Bernardino) Participants: Suzanne Kemmer (Rice University) Brian MacWhinney (Carnegie Mellon University) William Greaves (York University, Emeritus) Craig Hancock (University at Albany) Wallace Chafe (University of California, Santa Barbara) Tom Givón (University of Oregon) 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.”1 Since the 1970s, inspired by functionalism in the work of such linguists as Jespersen, Bolinger, Dik, Halliday, and Chafe, functionalism has been attached to a variety of movements and models making major contributions to linguistics in general and various subfields within linguistics, such as syntax, discourse, language acquisition, typology, documentary linguistics, and applied linguistics. The main goal of functionalist approaches is to clarify the dynamic relationship between form and function (Thompson 2003:53)2. Functional research into grammar offers new explanations for linguistic structure whereby grammar is “conceived in terms of the discourse functions from which it can be said to have emerged” (Thompson 2003:54). This view has led to important work on discourse and grammar by Sandra A. Thompson, Paul Hopper, T. Givón, Joan Bybee, and others. Another major contribution of the functional perspective on grammar is typological, culminating in work such as The World Atlas of Language Structure (WALS)3 under the direction of Bernard Comrie. Comrie's seminal work on
Open Document