Why Functional Discourse Grammar is not, and could not be, a Discourse Grammar

Authors

Keywords:

Functional Grammar, Functional Discourse Grammar, Discourse Act, strategy, discurso

Abstract

This article begins by tracing the debate within Functional Grammar (FG), to whichJ osé Gómez Soliño was a contributor, on the role of discourse in that model. That debate ultimately gave rise to Functional Discourse Grammar (FDG) as a grammar of the Discourse Act. Discourse Acts group into Moves, but attempts to circumscribe the Move grammatically have not been successful, and FDG has focused on phenomena that occur within the Discourse Act and between Discourse Acts. Reviving Dik’s model of verbal interaction, the article goes on to interpret FDG as a tool for the realization of the speaker’s and hearer’s communicative strategies as they seek a certain meeting of minds through the use of language. The article concludes by asserting that FDG is not a grammar of discourse, nor could it be.

Author Biography

  • J. Lachlan Mackenzie, VU Amsterdam

    Emeritus Professor (Language and Communication Department) VU Amsterdam.

cover image issue number 80

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Published

2021-07-01

Issue

No. 80 (2020): A Philologist World of Words: The Medievalist, the Functionalist, the African Explorer

Section

Monography

How to Cite

Mackenzie, J. Lachlan. 2021. “Why Functional Discourse Grammar Is Not, and Could Not Be, a Discourse Grammar”. Revista Canaria de Estudios Ingleses, no. 80 (July): 73-88. https://www.ull.es/revistas/index.php/estudios-ingleses/article/view/3202.