Parts of speech and dependent clauses in Functional Discourse Grammar

In this paper we use the Theory of Functional Discourse Grammar to show that parts of speech (PoS) and dependent clauses (DCs) can both be defined in terms of the functions they may express. On the basis of this parallel treatment, we predict that the functional possibilities of PoS and DCs in languages are comparable. This hypothesis is tested using a sample of 23 languages. The results do show similarities between the functional patterns of the two types of constructions.