[Lingtyp] [EXTERN] Question about functional linguistics

[Uta Reinöhl]

Hi Eitan

That's a lovely topic and I look forward to hearing what others 
recommend. I have found these ones here particularly rewarding to read 
with students (and just by myself).

Intro/overview papers:

DeLancey, Scott. 2001. On Functionalism. Lecture at LSA Summer 
Institute, Santa Barbara, 2001. Online at 
https://pages.uoregon.edu/delancey/sb/LECT01.htm

Mackenzie, J. Lachlan. 2016. Functional Linguistics. In: Keith Allan 
(ed.). Routledge Handbook of Linguistics. London/New York: Routledge, p. 
470-484.

And of course excerpts of

Paul, Hermann. 1880/1995. Prinzipien der Sprachgeschichte. 
Amsterdam/Philadelphia: Mouton.

With comments (and translations of some parts in the same volume) here:

Auer, Peter. 2015. Reflections on Hermann Paul As a Usage-Based 
Grammarian. In: Peter Auer, Gesa von Essen, Werner Frick (eds). Hermann 
Paul’s Principles of Language History Revisited. Berlin/Boston: de Gruyter.

In addition to Paul, I tend to also include in my courses some papers 
/chapters that are functionalist, while not themselves meta papers on 
functionalism. A very small selection of some personal favourites are:

Haiman, John. 1994. Ritualization and the development of language. In: 
William Pagliuca (ed.), Perspectives on Grammaticalization. 
Amsterdam/Philadelphia: Benjamins, 3–28.

Mithun, Marianne & Wallace Chafe. 1999. What are S, A, and O? Studies in 
Language 23(3), p. 569-596.

Chafe, Wallace. 1994. Discourse, Consciousness and Time. Chicago/London: 
The University of Chicago Press.

Uta

Am 22.09.2025 um 15:21 schrieb Eitan Grossman via Lingtyp:
> Hi all,
>
> This is maybe a mail for a mailing list that no longer exists, the old 
> FunkNet, but I thought I'd give it a try.
>
> I am putting together a syllabus for an advanced BA course on 
> functional linguistics, and have been re-reading a lot of the articles 
> that have been meaningful for me over the years, and it is difficult 
> to make a choice.
>
> I wanted to ask for the wisdom of the crowd -- what articles (or 
> books) in functional linguistics have been meaningful for you? What 
> have you read with students? What works do you think every student 
> should read?
>
> I should say that I have in mind what is usually called West Coast 
> Functionalism and usage-based linguistics, but would be happy to hear 
> your thoughts on other perspectives.
>
> Any replies would be much appreciated, and I would be happy to share 
> the resulting reading list/syllabus.
>
> Eitan
>
>
> Eitan Grossman
> Associate Professor, Department of Linguistics
> Department of Linguistics
> Hebrew University of Jerusalem
> Tel: +972 2 588 3809
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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> Lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org
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-- 
Professorin für Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft
Sprachwissenschaftliches Seminar
Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg
https://www.linguistik.uni-freiburg.de/
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