Structure and Function – A Guide to Three Major Structural-Functional Theories

Part 1: Approaches to the simplex clause

Author
Christopher S. Butler | Honorary Professor, University of Wales, Swansea
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ISBN 9789027230690 (Eur) | EUR 140.00
ISBN 9781588113566 (USA) | USD 210.00
 
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ISBN 9781588113573 (USA) | USD 105.00
 
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This book and its companion volume present a detailed guide to three major structural-functional theories: Functional Grammar, Role and Reference Grammar and Systemic Functional Grammar. This first volume provides the necessary background through a discussion of the characteristics of functional theories, followed by a brief analysis of six approaches to language in the light of this discussion. These chapters lead to a characterization of a smaller set of ‘structural-functional grammars’, among which FG, RRG and SFG are central. An overview of each of these theories in relation to the simplex clause is then presented, followed by a more critical comparison. The remainder of the book deals with the structure and meaning of phrasal units, the representation of situations, and the treatment of tense, aspect, modality and polarity, across the three theories. A major feature of the book is the use of examples from corpora of English and other languages, which serve not only to exemplify theoretical and descriptive claims, but also at times to challenge them.

[Studies in Language Companion Series, 63] 2003.  xx, 573 pp.
Publishing status: Available
Table of Contents
“Christopher Butler is one of the very few linguists who not only knows about a whole series of functional frameworks, but actually masters them in great detail. In this truly comprehensive work he uses this knowledge to provide clear introductions to each of the theories separately, to compare the way they handle a whole range of issues central to linguistic theory, and to evaluate their strengths and weaknesses. But an even more important feature of this work is that Butler comes up with many insightful suggestions about the ways in which each of the functional theories discussed could profit from the ideas developed in the other frameworks. This book merits careful attention by all those engaged in the further elaboration of a functional theory of language, and by those who are interested in the development of grammatical theory in general.”
“This book is a formidable piece of scholarship. It is especially impressive in two regards. First, it presents detailed expositions of three linguistic theories with which the author has been personally involved, and therefore he can write as something of an insider about each. His thorough knowledge of each theory makes it possible for him to do the kind of perceptive, detailed cross-theoretical comparisons which are often lacking in contemporary linguistic scholarship. Second, virtually all of the data used in the book to illustrate the theories is drawn from the British National Corpus or from corpora of Spanish and other languages; it is 'live' data, not artificially constructed examples. Butler has really achieved something here: by using corpus data exclusively, he has in effect tested the three theories against real sentences from English and other languages, and the extent to which they can handle them is a significant validation of the approaches.”
Cited by

Cited by 24 other publications

Butler, Christopher S.
2024. Approaches to Cross-Linguistic Studies in Functional and Cognitive/Constructional Theories of Language. In Constructional and Cognitive Explorations of Contrastive Linguistics,  pp. 11 ff. DOI logo
Cortés Rodriguez, Francisco J.
2014. Aspectual features in Role and Reference Grammar. Revista Española de Lingüística Aplicada/Spanish Journal of Applied Linguistics 27:1  pp. 23 ff. DOI logo
Dalamu, Taofeek O.
2019. Language choice as discourse: A transitivity approach to MTN® and ETISALAT® advertising communicative webs in Nigeria. Crossroads. A Journal of English Studies :25(2)  pp. 4 ff. DOI logo
DALAMU, Taofeek O.
2020. Discoursing children characteristics of Zenith bank®, Nigeria, advertising: an expression of clause as representation. Dil ve Dilbilimi Çalışmaları Dergisi 16:1  pp. 333 ff. DOI logo
Dalamu, Taofeek O. & Ke Yang
2022. Advertising linguistic framework: An instrument for teaching grammar in EFL university classrooms. Crossroads. A Journal of English Studies :38(3)  pp. 66 ff. DOI logo
DİL, Kemal
2023. Yurt Dışındaki Türkçe Temsiliyet Tehlikede Mi?. HUMANITAS - Uluslararası Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi 11:INCSOS VIII Özel Sayısı  pp. 136 ff. DOI logo
Giomi, Riccardo & Evelien Keizer
2020. Extra-clausal constituents in Functional Discourse Grammar: function and form. Revista da ABRALIN  pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Goria, Eugenio
Gómez González, María de los Ángeles, Francisco José Ruiz de Mendoza Ibáñez, Francisco Gonzálvez García & Angela Downing
2014. On the relatedness of functionalism and pragmatics. In The Functional Perspective on Language and Discourse [Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 247],  pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Hidalgo Downing, Laura, Raquel Hidalgo Downing & Angela Downing
Izre'el, Shlomo
2022. The syntax of existential constructions. Journal of Speech Sciences 11  pp. e022002 ff. DOI logo
KALAFAT, Şermin
2023. ‘Bağlam, Nasıl Terim Üretir?’: Osmanlı’daki Türkçe Matematik Terimlerinin Oluşumuna İşlevsel (Bağlamsal) Yaklaşım Temelli Bir Bakış. Selçuk Üniversitesi Türkiyat Araştırmaları Dergisi :60  pp. 267 ff. DOI logo
Keizer, Evelien
Keizer, Evelien, Thomas Schwaiger & Elnora ten Wolde
2022. Modification in Functional Discourse Grammar: State of the art and issues addressed. Open Linguistics 8:1  pp. 512 ff. DOI logo
Khinchagova, Alina Alikhanovna
2018. THE PROBLEM OF THE SEMANTIC CATEGORY OF PHASE IN THE CONTEMPORARY RUSSIAN LANGUAGE. Philology. Theory & Practice :1  pp. 180 ff. DOI logo
Latipov, Aziz
2023. Phase in general linguistics. Современные тенденции инновационного развития науки и образования в глобальном мире 1:2  pp. 126 ff. DOI logo
Leufkens, Sterre
2020. A functionalist typology of redundancy. Revista da ABRALIN  pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Nwosu, Onyebuchi, Chidimma U. E. Inyima, Immaculate N. Dona-Ezenne, Obinna Ibezim & Ngozi G. Ugochukwu
2022. Epidemics and Language Rejuvenation: The Emergence and Use of New English Forms in the Covid-19 Pandemic Nigeria. Journal of Language and Cultural Education 10:2  pp. 42 ff. DOI logo
Pagano, Adriana Silvina
2020. Modelagem da linguagem e do contexto na teoria sistêmico-funcional. Revista da ABRALIN  pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Park, Chongwon & Jong-Bok Kim
2022. Nominative objects in Korean. Linguistics 60:5  pp. 1487 ff. DOI logo
Whong, Melinda
2013. A linguistic perspective on communicative language teaching. The Language Learning Journal 41:1  pp. 115 ff. DOI logo
[no author supplied]
2006. Références bibliographiques. Langue française n° 150:2  pp. 119 ff. DOI logo
[no author supplied]
2017. From meaning to form in the Cardiff Model of language and its use. In The Routledge Handbook of Systemic Functional Linguistics,  pp. 80 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 16 march 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Subjects

Main BIC Subject

CFK: Grammar, syntax

Main BISAC Subject

LAN009000: LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / General
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U.S. Library of Congress Control Number:  2003040397 | Marc record