Functions are essentially the purposes that we accomplish with language, e.g., stating, requesting,
responding, greeting, parting, etc.
Functions cannot be accomplished, of course, without the forms of language: morphemes, words,
grammar rules, discourse rules, and other organizational competencies.
The instrumental function serves to manipulate the environment
The regulatory function of language is the control of events.
The representational function is the use of language to
make statements, convey facts and knowledge, explain, or
report—that is, to "represent" reality as one sees il.
The interactional function of language serves to ensure social maintenance.
The personal function allows a speaker to express feelings, emotions, personality, "gut-level" reactions
The heuristic function involves language used to acquire knowledge, to learn about the
environment.
The imaginative function serves to create imaginary systems or ideas Telling fairy tales, joking, or
writing a novel are all uses of the imaginative function.
Discourse Analysis
The object of learning as a set of a priori rules and structures, or as "evolving bond between the
individual and others—becoming a member of a community (p. 606).
With the increasing communicative emphasis on the discourse level of language in classrooms, we saw
that approaches that emphasized only the formal aspects of learner language overlooked important
discourse functions.
Pragmatics
Pragmatic constraints on language comprehension and production may be loosely thought of as the
effect of context on strings of linguistic events.
Pragmatics includes such contextual skills as using address forms, polite requests, persuading, and
disagreeing, as Kasper and Roever (2005) show in their review of research.
One pragmatic element of language that is useful for classroom learners of a foreign language is how
to disagree politely.
Discourse Styles
Oratorical style is used in public speaking before a large audience; wording is carefully planned in
advance, intonation is somewhat exaggerated, and numerous rhetorical devices are appropriate
Deliberative style is also used in addressing audiences, usually audiences too large to permit effective
interchange between speaker and hearers, although the forms are normally not as polished as those in
an oratorical style. A typical university classroom lecture is often carried out in a deliberative style.
A consultative style is typically a dialog, though formal enough that words are chosen with some care.
Business transactions, doctor-patient conversations, and the like are usually consultative in nature
A casual style is typical of conversations between friends or colleagues or sometimes members of a
family; in this context words need not be guarded and social barriers are moderately low
- An intimate style is one characterized by complete absence of social inhibitions. Talk with family,
loved ones, and very close friends, where the inner self is revealed, is usually in an intimate style.