Functional Discourse Grammar

The main focus of my research is on the development of Functional Discourse Grammar (FDG). This model builds on Functional Grammar, as elaborated by the late Simon C. Dik, but differs from it in various important respects. It is envisaged as the grammatical component of a larger model of the language user; it takes the discourse act as its basic unit of analysis; it distinguishes four levels of organization (interpersonal, representational, morphosyntactic and phonological); it orders these levels in a top-down fashion; it structures each level hierarchically. Major publications in this area are Hengeveld & Mackenzie (2008) and Hengeveld & Mackenzie's article in Heine & Narrog (2010).

I was the principal organizer of three FDG-related events that took place in late May and early June 2010 in the Centro Cíentifico e Cultural de Macau in Lisbon, Portugal: (a) the First International Postgraduate Course on Functional Discourse Grammar, on 31 May and 1 June; (b) IC-FDG-2010, the First International Conference on Functional Discourse Grammar, from 2 to 4 June; (c) a Colloquium on Portuguese Grammar from a Functional Point of View, on 5 June.