In the framework of Noam Chomsky's Minimalist Program, items of the lexicon are of two types: with or without substantive content. Items of the former category are called lexical items, whereas items of the latter category are functional items. Functional items carry the grammatical content of a sentence, which means that by taking them out of the sentence one would still understand the meaning, although it would not be grammatical. In other words, they are the 'glue' that holds the sentence together.[1] Functional items can also be classified as closed class, that is, belonging to parts of speech that do not easily allow new members.[1] If functional items are removed from a sentence, the words that would be left are the lexical items. The lexical items of a sentence are those that are used in telegraphic speech; functional items are the grammatical units that hold the sentence together and make it more fluid.[2] Functional Items are feature sets. Functional items include two type of morphemes. Free morphemes, like modals, auxiliaries, determiners, complementizers and bound morphemes such as nominal and verbal affixes.[3] Though functional items have feature structure, the do not enter into θ-marking.[4]
The following table provides examples of commonly used functional items:[5]
Functional (Closed) Categories of English
Examples
Preposition
to, from, under, over, with, by, at, above, before, after, through, near, on, off, for, in, into, of, during, across, without, since, until
Determiner
the, a, an, this, that, these, those, yon, every, some, many, most, few, all, each, any, less, fewer, no, one, two, three, four, etc., my, your, his, her, its, our, their
Conjunction
and, or, nor, neither, either
Complementizers
that, for, if, whether
TAM[6]
-ed, have, has, had, am, is, are, was, were, do, does, did, will, would, shall, should, can, could, may, might, must
Agreement[7]
-s[8]
Negation
not
^ abCarnie, Andrew (2007). Syntax A Generative Introduction. MA, USA: Blackwell. p. 45. ISBN 978-1-4051-3384-5.
^Andrew Carnie, "Syntax A Generative Introduction", Wiley-Blackwell, 2013, p. 52-53.
^Zobl, H.; Liceras, J. (1994). "Functional Categories and Acquisition Orders". Language Learning. 44 (1): 159–180. doi:10.1111/j.1467-1770.1994.tb01452.x.
^Noam Chomsky, The Minimalist Program, Cambridge: MIT Press, 1995, p.54.
^Andrew Carnie, "Syntax A Generative Introduction", Wiley-Blackwell, 2013, p. 53-54.
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