Functional domains of language
functional domain | main areas |
substantive notions and denomination | nominal classification, proper names, relationality (kinship), formation and modification of substantive notions |
quantification, measuring and ordering | plurality, counting, non-numeral quantification, measurement and collection |
reference | individuation, anchorage (incl. deixis), endophora (incl. reference tracking, determination) |
possession | possession in reference, possessive predication, possession and participation, past and future possession |
predication | existence and presentation, identification, categorization, characterization (property, comparison), change of category/property/state; secondary predication |
participation | actor and control (causative constructions), undergoer and affectedness (applicative constructions), indirectus, desideration, experience, peripheral roles |
design of situations | holistic vs. analytic representation (ideophones, verb series), temporal design of situations (time stability, telicity, phases of a situation), quality and quantity of situation core (intensification, gradation) |
orientation in space | position and posture (incl. spatial and gestalt properties of objects), motion, reference points, spatial regions, local relations |
orientation in time | moment and span, absolute time, temporal relation |
junction | proposition vs. state-of-affairs, intrinsic relations (reported speech, content propositions), extrinsic relations (logical relations, concrete relations), pragmatic level of interpropositional relations |
polarity | negation, polarity contrast |
modality | obligation, volition, possibility; validation, acceptance, regret |
discourse structure | information structure (topic vs. comment, presupposition vs. assertion, focus), emphasis |
communicative relations | communication channel, illocution (declaration, question, request and command, hortatory/monitory), evidentiality, speaker's state of mind (incl exclamation); avoidance language |