Daniel García Velasco – författare

The articles in this volume analyse the noun phrase within the framework of Functional Discourse Grammar (FDG), the successor to Simon C. Dik''s Functional Grammar. In its current form, FDG has an explicit top-down organization and distinguishes four hierarchically organized, interacting levels: (i) the interpersonal level (language as communicational process), (ii) the representational level (language as a carrier of content), (iii) the morphosyntactic level and (iv) the phonological level. Together they constitute the grammatical component, which in its turn interacts with a cognitive and a communicative component. This comprehensive approach to linguistic analysis is also reflected in this volume, which contains rich and substantial contributions concerning many different aspects of the noun phrase. At the same time, the analysis of a major linguistic construction from various perspectives is an excellent way to test a new model of grammar with regard to some of the standards of adequacy for linguistic theories.

The book contains several papers dealing with matters of representation and formalization of the noun phrase (the articles by Kees Hengeveld, José Luis González Escribano, Jan Rijkhoff and Evelien Keizer). Other contributors are more concerned with the practical application of the model with regard to discourse-interpersonal matters (Chris Butler, John H. Connolly), whereas the chapters by Dik Bakker and Roland Pfau and by Daniel García Velasco deal with morphosyntactic issues. In all, the variety of issues addressed and the range of languages considered prove that one of the important advantages of the FDG model is precisely the fact that grammatical phenomena can be treated from a semantic, pragmatic, morpho-syntactic, phonological or textual perspective in a coherent fashion.

In grammar design, a basic distinction is made between derivational and modular architectures. This raises the question of which organization of grammar can deal with linguistic phenomena more appropriately. The studies contained in the present volume explore the interface relations between different levels of linguistic representation in Functional Discourse Grammar as presented in Hengeveld and Mackenzie (2008) and Keizer (2015). This theory analyses linguistic expressions at four linguistic levels: interpersonal, representational, morphosyntactic and phonological. The articles address issues such as the possible correspondences and mismatches between those levels as well as the conditions which constrain the combinations of levels in well-formed expressions. Additionally, the theory is tested by examining various grammatical phenomena with a focus both on the English language and on typological adequacy: anaphora, raising, phonological reduction, noun incorporation, reflexives and reciprocals, serial verbs, the passive voice, time measurement constructions, coordination, nominal modification, and connectives. Overall, the volume provides both theoretical and descriptive insights which are of relevance to linguistics in general.