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Functional linguistics is concerned with the function of language and considers it an essense of human language. Views like this is not particularly new, but rather traditional in the history of linguistics. But today functional linguistics is constituted by a wide range of theoretical and methodological concerns. What unifies them as functional is the concern with discourse. This is quite natural since language can only function in discourse, not as isolated sentences.This collection of papers reflects some of the major approaches and methodologies in contemporary functional linguistics in Japan and the United States. Based on the fundamental concerns with discourse, the nine articles deal with a variety of up to date topics in functionalism and present numerous analyses, discussing from the question of basic grammatical categories to the inadequacy of some representative analyses in formal linguistics.This book is intended for readers with a wide scope of interest, for example, for those who are interested in discourse and conversational analysis, information structure, modality, aspect, morphology and syntax. Readers will learn how various contemporary functional linguistics is and yet how fundamental the role of discourse is throughout the functional inquiry in language.
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DIRECTIONS IN FUNCTIONAL LINGUISTICS STUDIES IN LANGUAGE COMPANION SERIES (SLCS) The SLCS series has been established as a companion series to STUDIES IN LANGUAGE, International Journal, sponsored by the Foundation "Foundations of language". Series Editors Werner Abraham University of Groningen The Netherlands Michael Noonan University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee USA Editorial Board Joan Bybee (University of New Mexico) Ulrike Claudi (University of Cologne) Bernard Comrie (University of Southern California) William Croft (University of Manchester) Östen Dahl (University of Stockholm) Gerrit Dimmendaal (University of Leiden) Martin Haspelmath (Free University of Berlin) Ekkehard König (Free University of Berlin) Christian Lehmann (University of Bielefeld) Robert Longacre (University of Texas, Arlington) Brian Mac Whinney (Carnegie-Mellon University) Marianne Mithun (University of California, Santa Barbara) Edith Moravcsik (University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee) Masayoshi Shibatani (Kobe University) Russell Tomlin (University of Oregon) John Verhaar (The Hague) Volume 36 Akio Kamio (ed.) Directions in Functional Linguistics DIRECTIONS IN FUNCTIONAL LINGUISTICS Edited by AKIO KAMIO Dokkyo University, Soka, Japan JOHN BENJAMINS PUBLISHING COMPANY AMSTERDAM/PHILADELPHIA The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences — Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Directions in functional linguistics / edited by Akio Kamio. p. cm. — (Studies in language companion series, ISSN 0165-7763 ; v. 36) Papers of a symposium held Dec. 20-21, 1991, at Dokkyo University in Soka City, Japan: the symposium was one of the series of symposia called the Dokkyo Forum which is sponsored annually by Dokkyo University. Papers in English: includes some data in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. Includes bibliographical references and indexes. 1. Functionalism (Linguistics)-Congresses. I. Kamio, Akio, 1942- . II. Dokkyo Daigaku. III. Series. P147.D57 1997 415-dc21 97-26691 ISBN 90 272 3039 0 (Eur.) / 1-55619-847-7 (US) (alk. paper) CIP © Copyright 1997 - John Benjamins B.V. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, or any other means, without written permission from the publisher. John Benjamins Publishing Co. · P.O.Box 75577 · 1070 AN Amsterdam · The Netherlands John Benjamins North America · P.O