Advances in Functional Grammar

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This comprehensive work begins with foundational concepts in functional grammar, exploring predicate typology and nominal predicates in English, including possessive constructions. It delves into possessors in Latin and examines non-verbal predicates in Hungarian, alongside possessive structures in French, highlighting their semantic and syntactic roles. The text addresses the positioning of semantic functions, contrasting alpha and non-alpha elements, and investigates passive-like constructions in Indonesian. It defends the concept of secondary objects and discusses impersonal constructions, emphasizing pragmatic functions. The focus function is analyzed in the context of contrast and context, while subordination is examined in Usan and other Papuan languages. The principles of constituent ordering are outlined, including placement rules and syntactic templates, as well as constraints on relators. The historical dimension of functional grammar is introduced, proposing an integrated theory of language change. The psychological aspect is explored through pragmatic constraints on subject and agent selection, and differences between first and second language learners are discussed. The work concludes with methodological insights into functional language theory and proposes an integrated model of functional grammar, supported by comprehensive indexes for authors, languages, and subjects.