Language Form and Language Function

The two basic approaches to linguistics are the formalist and the functionalist approaches. In this monograph, Frederick Newmeyer, a formalist, argues that both approaches are valid. However, because formal and functional linguists have avoided direct confrontation, they remain unaware of the compatability of their results. One of the author's goals is to make each side accessible to the other. While remaining an ardent formalist, Newmeyer stresses the limitations of a narrow formalist...
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The two basic approaches to linguistics are the formalist and the functionalist approaches. In this monograph, Frederick Newmeyer, a formalist, argues that both approaches are valid. However, because formal and functional linguists have avoided direct confrontation, they remain unaware of the compatability of their results. One of the author's goals is to make each side accessible to the other. While remaining an ardent formalist, Newmeyer stresses the limitations of a narrow formalist outlook that refuses to consider that anything of interest might have been discovered in the course of functionalist-orientated research. He argues that the basic principles of generative grammar, in interaction with principles in other linguistic domains, provide accounts of phenomena that functionalists have used to try to refute the generative approach.