GRAMMAR AND COMMUNICATION: ON V.G.ADMONI’S SCIENTIFIC METHOD

Abstract

The article focuses on the communicative perspective in V.G.Admoni’s linguistic analysis of grammatical forms and categories. The communicative nature of Admoni’s theory is considered an essential feature of his grammatical concept as a whole. Based on central works of the scholar, this paper offers a twofold perspective on his theory: objectdriven as well method-driven. On the one hand, Admoni regards the grammatical system, which is the main object of his analysis, not as an abstract concept or a theoretical construct but rather as a functioning “grammatical reality” retaining its communicatively determined taxonomy. On the other hand, grammatical forms and categories, as well as the relationship between expression and content are described by Admoni in close connection with the processes of communication. The paper also explores and interprets the main features of Admoni’s grammatical concept in the context of modern linguistics, such as principles of systematicity, multidimensionality, field structuredness, etc. Admoni’s theoretical generalizations, being an important contribution to the general grammar theory and German studies, are explained based on their communicative foundations. The paper substantiates that theoretical approaches brought forward by Admoni continue to play a significant role in the traditional structural and grammatical description of the German language but can also be tapped for ideas and insights in contemporary linguistic research, especially in functional grammar, functional communicative syntax, pragmalinguistic analysis of grammatical means and categories, linguistic studies of style and forms of language communication.

Keywords:

communicative linguistics, functional grammar, grammar theory, communicative grammatical category, field structuring of grammatical categories, field structuring of grammatical categoriesV.G.Admoni