The Question of Discourse Representation in
Functional Discourse Grammar
John H. Connolly
- Introduction
Ever since its inception, FG has been a pragmatically oriented theory, and a
good deal of pragmatically based research on the grammar of natural lan-
guages has been carried out within its framework. However, it was not
until the publication of Dik (1997a, 1997b) that the foundational text of FG
came to include a specific chapter devoted to discourse, focusing upon
units of language larger than the clause.
In the field of language studies outside of FG, there has, of course, been
a considerable amount of research into discourse from a variety of different
standpoints, stretching back for many years. Some, though by no means all,
of the principles established in this pre-existing work are incorporated into
the final chapter of Dik (1997b).
Now Hengeveld (this volume) has proposed a new architecture for FG,
which he terms Functional Discourse Grammar (FDG). Significantly, this
framework accommodates discourse as an integral part of the model. What
has not yet evolved, however, is a consensus on the issue of how to repre-
sent discourse. Hence, the present paper will be concerned with a
discussion of this question.
- The Treatment of Discourse
2.1. Discourse in Dik’s FG Framework
First, though, we need to conduct a brief overview of previous research. An
appropriate place to begin is with a consideration of the scope of discourse.