Functional Grammar

[Elizabeth Traugott]

Juno,
Surely you have not "just recently realized" that there is a difference!
This is something you have had email about with Sag, Wasow
and others, and well as the email that went out after the
UG dinner.
There is a HUGE amount of email that has been going on for
over two years on this subject, so I hope you don't get swamped
or snubbed! One thing I can guarantee is that there are
VERY different answers depending on where the answerer starts
from, so you will never get "what exactly are the differences"!
Only what are the differences from X perspective. One thing you
might want to do is check out the LINGUISTLIST--
they archive everything under topic (on the web).
Elizabeth

>
> Dear all,
>
> I am undergraduate student at Stanford University who is writing an honors
> thesis on subordinate clauses in narratives found in EFL textbooks vs. ESL
> textbooks. I have been coding my texts, based upon the methods of
> functional grammar, but just recently realized that functional grammar
> and the traditional generative, transformational grammar are two entirely
> different approaches to syntax. I am thinking of including a brief
> discussion of this in my thesis. Could anybody clarify for me what exactly
> are the differences between the two types of analyses? I appreciate your
> help.
>
> Sincerely,
> Juno Nakamura
> Junior, Linguistics
> Stanford University
> (650)497-6877
>