Reflecting on Functional Discourse Grammar as i self-isolate

Abstract

These reflections, composed during a period of self-isolation in Lisbon, begin by sketching how Functional Discourse Grammar (FDG) finds its origins in Simon Dik’s Functional Grammar and then briefly set out some of the major principles of FDG. The article focuses on an interpretation of FDG that, like Dik's model of verbal interaction, gives a prominent place to dialogue. The article deals with speakers’ discursive and lexical strategies, and ends with analysis of the relatively new phenomenon of self-prefixed verbs in English, culminating in a discussion of the new verb self-isolate (and also self-quarantine), created in the early days of the coronavirus crisis.

Keywords

• Functional Discourse Grammar
• Dialogue
• Communicative Strategies
• Neologisms
• Language and Covid-19