Craig,

On your query about whether Cog Gram is related to functional grammar,
it depends on which functional grammar you mean. There is a Functional
Grammar that was formulated in the Netherlands by a researcher named
Dik, which now has a substantial European following, but not much
anywhere else. This FG is not related to Cog Gr. There is another
functional grammar practiced in the USA, which is drawn largely from
typological and cross-linguistic studies--study of how large numbers of
languages treat things like the situations that passive sentences in
English portray. This FG is more compatible with Cog. Gram. A main
proponent of this FG is Talmy Givon of the U of Oregon, another
well-known typologist is William Croft, of the U of Manchester, England.

I am capitalizing Cog Gram because it is one specific theory with its
own set of terms and descriptive devices.

On the one hand, you're right--we need a unified set of terms and
understandings in order to update grammar teaching and make it more
effective. This is on the 'applied' side of linguistics, where
linguistics interfaces with practical applications and must communicate
to people who aren't devoting their lives to linguistic studies.

On the other hand, though, there is linguistic theory, the object of
which is to describe and explain how language works, and here, it is
rather better to have multiple viewpoints and ways of describing things.
This richness allows us to experiment with different ways of looking at
language and different ways of understanding the evidence we have from
language learning, language disabilities, language change, language in
daily use, etc. Such richness is a burden on theoretical linguists, who
have to master new terms and assumptions whenever they read a new
theory, but it is not intended to be a burden on non-linguists who have
a different set of concerns.

Bringing the two together is a great challenge. The theory field is
always changing, of course, and non-linguists have always lamented this,
but it is not really avoidable. What applied linguists have to do is
experiment with 'lay' versions of theory and find out what works. I am
trying to do this somewhat with my own work.

All that said, our understandings of everything, from physics to
sociology, undergo change, and how these understandings are conveyed in
K-12 education also changes (consider the impact of civil rights
movements on how history is taught). This is why textbooks get updated
and teachers (should) get time and pay for continual professional
development.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Johanna Rubba   Associate Professor, Linguistics
English Department, California Polytechnic State University
One Grand Avenue  • San Luis Obispo, CA 93407
Tel. (805)-756-2184  •  Fax: (805)-756-6374 • Dept. Phone.  756-2596
• E-mail: [log in to unmask] •  Home page: http://www.cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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