Multifunctionality in FDG: Spanish mismo

Abstract

Linguistic elements, such as words, phrases, or grammatical structures, may serve multiple functions within a language. Linguistic multi-functionality is central to understanding the versatility and complexity of language systems. The present pages are intended as an illustration of the relevance of the architecture of the theory of Functional Discourse Grammar (henceforth FDG) (Hengeveld & Mackenzie 2008; Keizer 2015) in addressing the multi-functionality of linguistic units. Specifically, the focus of the analysis that is presented in this squib is the Spanish word mismo ‘same’ and the phrase lo mismo ‘the same’.