18 - Conclusions: towards a modular and multi-dimensional perspective

Summary

In this book I have surveyed the role of functional categories in a wide variety of sub-domains, and in this chapter I will try to draw some conclusions. After a summary of the main findings from these different sub-disciplines, the question is raised of how to reconcile the apparent logical independence of the syntactic, semantic, phonological, and morpho-lexical dimensions of functional categories with the fact that they so frequently converge to define what appear on the surface as unitary entities. A multi-factorial model is proposed, where optimalisation strategies lead to further convergence of items on the phonological, morphological, semantic, and syntactic dimensions. I then go on to sketch the issue of functional categories from the perspective of language evolution, the topic of the last section.

Before turning to the general discussion it is useful to summarise the main findings of the different sections of the book: grammar, historical linguistics, psycholinguistics, and language contact studies. As I pointed out in the introductory chapter 1, the concept of ‘functional category’ is multi-dimensional; it can be viewed from the perspective of syntax, semantics, pragmatics, morphology, the lexicon proper, and phonology. In different chapters, different dimensions of functional categories are stressed.

The syntactic dimensions of functional categories play a role particularly in the studies of psycholinguistics and language contact, as well as in grammaticalisation theory. Semantic aspects play a role in the latter domain as well, both in spoken and in signed languages.