| Lemma | underlying clause structure |
|---|---|
| Categoria grammaticale | N |
| Lingua | inglese |
| Sigla | Dik (1989) |
| Titolo | The theory of functional grammar. Part I: the structure of the clause |
| Sinonimi | |
| Rinvii | |
| Traduzioni | |
| Citazioni | […] we assume that each clause must be described in terms of an abstract “underlying clause structure”, which is mapped onto the actual form of the corresponding linguistic expression by a system of “expression rules”, which determine the form, the order, and the intonation pattern of the constituents of the underlying clause structures, given their status within the underlying structures:
(2) UNDERLYING CLAUSE STRUCTURES
↓
EXPRESSION RULES
↓
LINGUISTIC EXPRESSION
The underlying clause structures is a complex abstract structure in which several levels or “layers” of formal and semantic organization have to be distinguished. As a first approximation to this structure, we can represent it as follows:
(3) CLAUSE → “speech act”
PROPOSITION → “possible fact”
PREDICATION → “state of affairs”
PREDICATE → “property/relation”
applied toTERM(S) → “entity/entities”
The construction of an underlying clause structure first of all requires a “predicate” which is to be applied to an appropriate number of “terms” of the appropriate types. Predicates designate properties or relations, while terms can be used to refer to entities. |