Object Assignment in S.C. Dik’s Functional Grammar: Marginal Accessibility in English

Abstract

The approach to Subject and Object assignment in Dik<s Functional Grammar is one of the most controversial aspects of the theory. Dik (1997) formulates a universal hierarchy of semantic functions determining accessibility to the Subject and Object functions. The icut-off pointj for Object assignment in English is established after the Beneficiary. However, it is my contention that Object assignment is not restricted to Goal, Recipient and Beneficiary terms. As I will try to illustrate in this paper, there are other more marginal possibilities that suggest that the productivity of Object assigment is a matter of degree (cf. Brdar and Brdar Szabó 1993).