Page 45 - A GRAMMAR OF BHOJPURI _ PhD Dissertation 2020 TU

Givón (1984/1990) has introduced the functional-typological approach to
grammar explaining the lapses of the formal linguistic theories of either structuralism

or transformational-generative grammar. Givón (2001a and 2001b) further explains
this approach to language and grammar with correction of the mistakes, including the
aspects — constituency, hierarchy, grammatical relations, clause-union, finiteness and

syntactic control—previously taken for granted but chosen to defer.
Going through the analogy of convention of the form and function, we come

to conclude that a certain structure is required to perform a specified function. So,
humane anatomy and anatomy of other animals differ from each other as they differ

from one another to function separately. Likewise, an axe and a sickle are certainly
different in shape and size as the axe cuts hard wood but a sickle cuts grass or straw.

Consequently, "this is akin to suggesting, by analogy, that the evolutionary
mechanism that gave rise to a particular life form is irrelevant to our understanding of
the structure of that life form" (Givón, 2001a:7).

This framework tries to investigate how language is used, i.e., what are the
purposes that languages serve for human beings and how human beings are able to

achieve these goals through speaking, listening, reading and writing. Furthermore, the
nature of language is explained in functional terms.

The functional explanation requires how and in what ways the forms of
language may be determined by function it is developed to perform if it is formed by

use of itself. Thus, this framework believes, not in competence, but in performance.
According to this framework, grammar emerges and changes and the forms adjust to
narrate functions. So, the meanings of the forms shaped by the functions are extended

only for performance.
From the functional point of view, there are two primary functions of a

human language:
a. Representation of knowledge
b. Communication of knowledge

According to this approach, language is a system in which the primary
functions of representation and communication of knowledge are realized through the

two subsystems of language: cognitive representation system and communicative
coding system.

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