# Function word > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Function_word > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Function_word.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Function_word > Source revision: 1340178602 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|Words supplying mainly grammatical information, rather than content information}} {{More citations needed|date=September 2011}} In [linguistics](/source/linguistics), '''function words''' (also called '''functors''')[Rudolf Carnap](/source/Rudolf_Carnap), ''The Logical Syntax of Language'', Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1937, pp. 13–14. are [word](/source/word)s that have little [lexical](/source/Lexical_(semiotics)) [meaning](/source/Meaning_(linguistic)) or have [ambiguous](/source/ambiguous) meaning and express [grammatical](/source/grammar) relationships among other words within a [sentence](/source/Sentence_(linguistics)), or specify the attitude or mood of the speaker. They signal the structural relationships that words have to one another and are the glue that holds sentences together. Thus they form important elements in the structures of sentences.Klammer, Thomas, Muriel R. Schulz and Angela Della Volpe. (2009). ''Analyzing English Grammar (6th ed).''Longman. Words that are not function words are called ''[content word](/source/content_word)s'' (or [open class word](/source/open_class_word)s, ''lexical words,'' or ''autosemantic words'') and include [nouns](/source/nouns), most [verbs](/source/verbs), [adjectives](/source/adjectives), and most [adverbs](/source/adverbs), although some adverbs are function words (like ''then'' and ''why''). [Dictionaries](/source/Dictionaries) define the specific meanings of content words but can describe only the general usages of function words. By contrast, [grammars](/source/grammars) describe the use of function words in detail but treat lexical words only in general terms. Since it was first proposed in 1952 by [C. C. Fries](/source/C._C._Fries), the distinguishing of function/structure words from content/lexical words has been highly influential in the grammar used in second-language acquisition and [English-language teaching](/source/English-language_teaching).{{cite book|last1=Fries|first1=Charles Carpenter|title=The Structure of English|url=https://archive.org/details/structureofengli0000frie|url-access=registration|date=1952|publisher=Harcourt Brace|location=New York}} ==Overview== Function words might be [preposition](/source/preposition)s, [pronoun](/source/pronoun)s, [auxiliary verb](/source/auxiliary_verb)s, [conjunctions](/source/Grammatical_conjunction), [grammatical articles](/source/Article_(grammar)) or [particles](/source/Grammatical_particle), all of which belong to the group of [closed-class words](/source/closed_class_word). [Interjection](/source/Interjection)s are sometimes considered function words but they belong to the group of [open-class words](/source/open_class_word). Function words might or might not be [inflected](/source/Inflection) or might have [affix](/source/affix)es. Function words belong to the closed class of words in [grammar](/source/grammar) because it is very uncommon to have new function words created in the course of speech. In the open class of words, i.e., nouns, verbs, adjectives, or adverbs, [new words](/source/neologism) may be added readily, such as [slang](/source/slang) words, technical terms, and adoptions and adaptations of foreign words. Each function word either: gives grammatical information about other words in a sentence or [clause](/source/clause), and cannot be isolated from other words; or gives information about the speaker's mental model as to what is being said. Grammatical words, as a class, can have distinct [phonological](/source/phonological) properties from content words. For example, in some of the [Khoisan languages](/source/Khoisan_languages), most content words begin with [clicks](/source/click_consonant), but very few function words do.{{Citation | last =Westphal | first =E.O.J. | contribution =The click languages of Southern and Eastern Africa | year =1971 | title =Current trends in Linguistics, Vol. 7: Linguistics in Sub-Saharan Africa | editor-last =Sebeok | editor-first =T.A. | place=Berlin | publisher =Mouton}} In English, very few words other than function words begin with the [voiced ''th''](/source/Pronunciation_of_English_th) [[voiced dental fricative|{{IPA|[ð]|cat=no}}]].{{cite journal |last1=Kelly |first1=Michael H. |title=Using sound to solve syntactic problems: The role of phonology in grammatical category assignments. |journal=Psychological Review |date=1992 |volume=99 |issue=2 |pages=349–364 |doi=10.1037/0033-295X.99.2.349 |url=https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2F0033-295X.99.2.349 |language=en |issn=1939-1471|url-access=subscription }} English function words may be spelled with fewer than [three letters](/source/three_letter_rule); e.g., 'I', 'an', 'in', while non-function words usually are spelled with three or more (e.g., 'eye', 'Ann', 'inn'). The following is a list of the kind of words considered to be function words with English examples. They are all [uninflected](/source/uninflected_word) in English unless marked otherwise: *[articles](/source/Article_(grammar)) — ''the'' and ''a''. In some inflected languages, the articles may take on the case of the [declension](/source/declension) of the following noun. *[pronoun](/source/pronoun)s — ''he/him'', ''she/her'', etc. — inflected in English *[adposition](/source/adposition)s — ''in'', ''under'', ''towards'', ''before'', ''of'', ''for'', etc. *[co-ordinating conjunctions](/source/conjunction_(grammar)) — ''and, or,'' ''but,'' etc. *[subordinating conjunctions](/source/subordinating_conjunctions) — ''if'', ''than,'' ''however'', ''thus'', etc. *[auxiliary verb](/source/auxiliary_verb)s — ''would'', ''could'', ''should'', etc. — inflected in English *[particles](/source/grammatical_particle) — ''up'', ''on'', ''down, out'', etc. *[interjection](/source/interjection)s — ''oh'', ''ah'', ''eh'', etc. — sometimes called "filled pauses" *[expletives](/source/Expletive_(linguistics)) — ''indeed, friggin’, zounds'', etc. *[sentence words](/source/Sentence_word) — [''yes'', ''no''](/source/yes_and_no), ''[okay](/source/okay)'', etc. == See also == * [Content word](/source/Content_word), words that name objects of reality and their qualities * [Grammaticalization](/source/Grammaticalization), process by which words representing objects and actions transform to become grammatical markers * [Grammatical relation](/source/Grammatical_relation) == References == {{Reflist}} == Further reading == * {{cite book |last=Kordić |first=Snježana |author-link=Snježana Kordić |language=de |title=Wörter im Grenzbereich von Lexikon und Grammatik im Serbokroatischen |trans-title=Serbo-Croatian Words on the Border Between Lexicon and Grammar |series=Studies in Slavic Linguistics; 18 |location=Munich |publisher=Lincom Europa |year=2001 |page=280 |isbn=3-89586-954-6 |lccn=2005530313 |oclc=47905097 |ol=2863539W |id={{CROSBI|426497}}}} [https://www.webcitation.org/6A80Mj8Bf?url=http://www.snjezana-kordic.de/Summary_Worter.pdf Summary]. == External links == {{Wiktionary}} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20160423092214/http://www.viviancook.uk/Words/StructureWordsList.htm Short list of 225 English function words] {{lexical categories|state=collapsed}} Category:Grammar Category:Parts of speech [kk:Шылау](/source/kk%3A%D0%A8%D1%8B%D0%BB%D0%B0%D1%83) --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Function word](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Function_word) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Function_word?action=history)). 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