The distinction between function/structure words and
content/lexical words proposed by C.C. Fries in 1952 has been highly
influential in the grammar used in second language acquisition and English
Language Teaching. Function words are words that have little lexical meaning
or have ambiguous meaning, but instead serve to express grammatical
relationships with other words within a sentence, or specify the attitude or
mood of the speaker. They signal the structural relationships that words have
to one another and are the glue that holds sentences together. Thus, they
serve as important elements to the structures of sentences.
Words that are not function words are called content words: these include
nouns, verbs, adjectives, and most adverbs, although some adverbs are
function words. Dictionaries define the specific meanings of content words, but
can only describe the general usages of function words. By contrast, grammars
describe the use of function words in detail, but treat lexical words in
general terms only. Function words might be prepositions,
pronouns, auxiliary verbs, conjunctions, grammatical articles or particles, all
of which belong to the group of closed-class words. Interjections are
sometimes considered function words but they belong to the group of open-class
words. Function words might or might not be inflected or might have affixes.
Function words belong to the closed class of words in grammar in that it is
very uncommon to have new function words created in the course of speech, whereas
in the open class of words new words may be added readily. See neologism.
Each function word either gives some grammatical information on other words
in a sentence or clause, and cannot be isolated from other words, or it may
indicate the speaker's mental model as to what is being said.
Grammatical words, as a class, can have distinct phonological properties from
content words. Grammatical words sometimes do not make full use of all
the sounds in a language. For example, in some of the Khoisan languages, most
content words begin with clicks, but very few function words do. In English,
very few words other than function words begin with voiced th-"[ð]"; English
function words may have less than three letters 'I', 'an', 'in' while
non-function words usually have three or or more 'eye', 'Ann', 'inn'.
The following is a list of the kind of words considered to be function words:
articles — the and a. In some inflected languages, the articles may take on the
case of the declension of the following noun.
pronouns — inflected in English, as he — him, she — her, etc.
adpositions — uninflected in English conjunctions — uninflected in English
auxiliary verbs — forming part of the conjugation, always inflected
interjections — sometimes called "filled pauses", uninflected
particles — convey the attitude of the speaker and are uninflected, as if,
then, well, however, thus, etc. expletives — take the place of
sentences, among other functions. pro-sentences — yes, okay, etc.
See also Content word
References Further reading
Kordić, Snježana. Wörter im Grenzbereich von Lexikon und Grammatik im
Serbokroatischen [Serbo-Croatian Words on the Border Between Lexicon and
Grammar]. Studies in Slavic Linguistics ; 18. Munich: Lincom Europa. p. 280.
ISBN 3-89586-954-6. LCCN 2005530313. OCLC 47905097. OL 2863539W. Summary.
External links List of function words
Short list of 225 English function words