| Abstrakt: |
Abstract: a1_1. In the first section, the author mentions and briefly discusses three basic ideas characterizing Mathesius’ functional approach to language and linguistics: (1) his „textual“ approach, i.e. his conviction that not only linguistic system but also discourse processes (comprising the speaker, hearer, and situation) represent the proper object of linguistics (with psychological orientation); (2) his methodological devise „From common functional needs to the formal means by which they are satisfied“; (3) his statement of the non-ideal character of natural languages and of the danger of a restrictionistic, formalistic treatment of the facts of language. Also affinities of some other functional conceptions (e.g. H. Seiler, M.A.K. Halliday, S. C. Dik, A. V. Bondarko) to Praguian views are pointed to. 2. Mathesius based his Functional Grammar on the assumption of two fundamental (psycholinguistic) acts performed by the speaker in a discourse process: By the one, elements are selected from the given reality and named by existing particular language signs; the ways and means of this naming procedure establish one of the major parts of linguistic investigation, namely functional onomatology. By the other act, these signs (names) are interrelated; and the ways and means of organizing them into sentences represent the content of the second major part, namely functional syntax. Morphology, dealing with groupings of the said means on the basis of formal affinities, cuts across the two functional fields. The present author discusses in some detail all three mentioned linguistic components, pointing at some specificities of Mathesius’ approach. |
