Publisher's Synopsis
In linguistics, grammar is the set of structural rules governing the composition of clauses, phrases, and words in any given natural language. The term refers also to the study of such rules, and this field includes morphology, syntax, and phonology, often complemented by phonetics, semantics, and pragmatics. The book, Structural-functional Studies in English Grammar, presents a number of studies in the grammar of English which focus on the one hand on close reading of language in context and on the other hand on current functional theoretical concerns. First chapter draws some general conclusions from the evidence gathered by two recent analyses, which traced the development of advanced literacy by two undergraduate language learner populations. Second chapter provides preliminary evidence for the neurogenetic basis of normal variations in linguistic grammar learning and its link to domain-general functions. Third chapter presents findings of a study of recognition vocabulary knowledge as a predictor of written Academic English Proficiency (AEP) and overall Academic Achievement in an English medium higher education program in an English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) context. Fourth chapter aims to explore grammatical metaphor (GM) from a theoretical perspective. Fifth chapter compares the effect of different kinds of distractors on the level of difficulty of multiple-choice (MC) vocabulary tests in sentential contexts. Sixth chapter presents a methodological probe to aeronautical English vocabulary instruction. Seventh chapter aims to complement the theoretical and descriptive literature on exclamative clauses in English by providing a comprehensive description of their structural and semantic properties. The purpose of eighth chapter is to help EFL teachers have an overall understanding of the theory and key concepts of functional grammar as well as the positive role functional grammar plays in school contexts. Ninth chapter highlights on the rule, pattern, and meaning in the second-language teaching of grammar. In tenth chapter, the FDG architecture proper is described, including the role of the extra-grammatical conceptual and contextual components. A simple interrogative clause in Esperanto is used to illustrate how a linguistic expression is built up from the formulation of its (pragmatic) intention to its articulation. Eleventh chapter presents an overview of the notion of layering in three types of structural functional grammars. Last chapter discusses the relationship between a 'natural' metalanguage of discourse and a more contrived metalanguage relating to structure, including the terms of grammar, arguing that the study of grammar has a place on the English curriculum in the context of a broader consideration of language which should form part of every teacher's development. Principles of grammatical description are explored through examples taken from language acquisition.