Functions of Language

Functions of Language is an international journal of linguistics which explores the functionalist perspective on the organisation and use of natural language. It publishes articles and reviews books from the full spectrum of functionalist linguistics, seeking to bring out the fundamental unity behind the various schools of thought, while stimulating discussion among functionalists. It encourages the interplay of theory and description, and provides space for the detailed analysis, qualitative or quantitative, of linguistic data from a broad range of languages. Its scope is broad, covering such matters as prosodic phenomena in phonology, the clause in its communicative context, and regularities of pragmatics, conversation and discourse, as well as the interaction between the various levels of analysis. The overall purpose is to contribute to our understanding of how the use of languages in speech and writing has impacted, and continues to impact, upon the structure of those languages.

Functions of Language promotes the constructive interaction between linguistics and such neighbouring disciplines as sociology, cultural studies, psychology, ethology, communication studies, translation theory and educational linguistics.