舒炸慐汵-Week6b.Functionalandpragmatic.pptVIP

CAS LX 400Second Language Acquisition Week 6b. Functional andpragmatic perspectives What is a functionalist approach? Functionalist researchers (“functionalists”) are generally concerned with the role language structures play in actual communication. The knowledge about language that they study is primarily knowledge about how language is used. Givón: Grammar as “a set of strategies that one employs in order to produce coherent communication” Functionalism It is worth noting that functionalists and generativists are often quite ideologically divided. The functionalist view is generally consi