This manual outlines a framework for the analysis of syntactic grammar from a perspective of a systemic functional grammar. In part, the book goes back to the grammar's scale and category roots, but now with the aim of presenting a descriptive framework which shows how the analysis of the syntactic structure can reflect the meaning structure. The contents are divided into four sections. The first gives a brief overview of systemic grammar, including the linguistic system, context of situation, and language functions. Developing the lexicogrammar, the second section considers formal units and their classes, but the principal focus is in Section Three, which covers the role of units as elements of structure. The argumentation also takes on board some approaches by other grammarians. The text is illustrated with examples throughout, and the fuller analytical frameworks are also shown in summary chapters. Section Four discusses areas of structural complexity and concludes with several refinements to the analysis format.

This book describes and evaluates alternative approaches within Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) to representing the structure of language at the level of form. It assumes no prior knowledge of SFL, and can therefore be read as an introduction to current issues within the theory. It will interest any linguist who takes a functional approach to understanding language.Part 1 summarizes the major developments in the forty years of SFL's history, including alternative approaches within Halliday's own writings and the emergence of the "Cardiff Grammar" as an alternative to the "Sydney Grammar." It questions the theoretical status of the 'multiple structure' representations in Halliday's influential "Introduction to Functional Grammar" (1994), demonstrating that Halliday's model additionally needs an integrating syntax such as that described in Part 2.Part 2 specifies and discusses the set of 'categories' and 'relationships' that are needed in a theory of syntax for a modern, computer-implementable systemic functional grammar. The theoretical concepts are exemplified at every point, usually from English but occasionally from other languages.The book is both a critique of Halliday's current theory of syntax and the presentation of an alternative version of SFL that is equally systemic and equally functional.

This introduction to and overview of the "glue" approach is the first book to bring together the research of the major contributors to the field. A new, deductive approach to the syntax-semantics interface integrates two mature and successful lines of research: logical deduction for semantic composition and the Lexical Functional Grammar (LFG) approach to the analysis of linguistic structure. It is often referred to as the "glue" approach because of the role of logic in "gluing" meanings together. The "glue" approach has attracted significant attention from, among others, logicians working in the relatively new and active field of linear logic; linguists interested in a novel deductive approach to the interface between syntax and semantics within a nontransformational, constraint-based syntactic framework; and computational linguists and computer scientists interested in an approach to semantic composition that is grounded in a conceptually simple but powerful computational framework.This introduction to and overview of the "glue" approach is the first book to bring together the research of the major contributors to the field. Contributors Richard Crouch, Mary Dalrymple, John Fry, Vineet Gupta, Mark Johnson, Andrew Kehler, John Lamping, Dick Oehrle, Fernando Pereira, Vijay Saraswat, Josef van Genabith

A step-by-step introduction to lexical-functional grammar, using data from English and a range of typologically diverse languages.

Presents an overview and introduction to Lexical Functional Grammar (LFG), a theory of the content and representation of different aspects of linguistic structure and the relations that hold between them. This book also presents a theory of semantics and the syntax-semantics interface.

This book examines in detail the acceptability status of sentences in the following five English constructions, and elucidates the syntactic, semantic, and functional requirements that the constructions must satisfy in order to be appropriately used: There-Construction, (One’s) Way Construction, Cognate Object Construction, Pseudo-Passive Construction, and Extraposition from Subject NPs. It has been argued in the frameworks of Chomskyan generative grammar, relational grammar, conceptual semantics and other syntactic theories that the acceptability of sentences in these constructions can be accounted for by the unergative–unaccusative distinction of intransitive verbs. However, this book shows through a wide range of sentences that none of these constructions is sensitive to this distinction. For each construction, it shows that acceptability status is determined by a given sentence's semantic function as it interacts with syntactic constraints (which are independent of the unergative–unaccusative distinction), and with functional constraints that apply to it in its discourse context.

Lexical-Functional Syntax, 2nd Edition, the definitive text for Lexical Functional Grammar (LFG) with a focus on syntax, is updated to reflect recent developments in the field. Provides both an introduction to LFG and a synthesis of major theoretical developments in lexical-functional syntax over the past few decades Includes in-depth discussions of a large number of syntactic phenomena from typologically diverse languages Features extensive problem sets and solutions in each chapter to aid in self-study Incorporates reader feedback from the 1st Edition to correct errors and enhance clarity

Although the contributors to this book do not belong to one particular 'school' of linguistic theory, they all share an interest in the external functions of language in society and in the relationship between these functions and internal linguistic phenomena. In this sense they all take a functional approach to grammatical issues. Apart from this common starting-point, the contributions share the aim of demonstrating the non-autonomous nature of morphology and syntax, and the inadequacy of linguistic models which deal with syntax, morphology and lexicon in separate, independent components. The recurrent theme throughout the book is the inseparability of lexis and morphosyntax, of structure and function, of grammar and society. The third and more specific common thread is case, which in some contributions is adduced to illustrate the more general point of the link between word form on the one hand and clausal and textual relations on the other hand, while in other papers it is at the centre of the discussion. The interest of the proposed volume consists in the fact that it brings together the views of leading scholars in functional linguistics of various 'denominations' on the place of morphosyntax in linguistic theory. The book provides convincing argumentation against a modular theory with autonomous levels (the dominant framework in mainstream 20th century linguistics) and is a plea for further research into the connections between the lexicogrammar and the linguistic and extralinguistic context.

Fully updated and revised, this fourth edition of Halliday's Introduction to Functional Grammar explains the principles of systemic functional grammar, enabling the reader to understand and apply them in any context. Halliday's innovative approach of engaging with grammar through discourse has become a worldwide phenomenon in linguistics. Updates to the new edition include: Recent uses of systemic functional linguistics to provide further guidance for students, scholars and researchers More on the ecology of grammar, illustrating how each major system serves to realise a semantic system A systematic indexing and classification of examples More from corpora, thus allowing for easy access to data Halliday's Introduction to Functional Grammar, Fourth Edition, is the standard reference text for systemic functional linguistics and an ideal introduction for students and scholars interested in the relation between grammar, meaning and discourse.

The contributions making up this volume in honor of Eloise Jelinek are written from a formalist perspective that deals with stereotypically functionalist questions about language. Jelinek's pioneering work in formalist syntax has shown that autonomous syntax need not exist in a vacuum. Her work has highlighted the importance of incorporating the effects of discourse and information structure on the syntactic representation. This book aims to invoke Jelinek's work either in substance or spirit. The focus is on Jelinek's influential Pronominal Argument Hypothesis as an "non-configurational" language; the influence of discourse-related interface phenomena on syntactic structure; the syntactic analysis of the grammaticalization; interactions between morphology, phonology and phonetics; and foundational issues about the link between formal grammar and function of language, as well as the methodological issues underlying the different approaches to linguistics.