Functional articulation in diglossia: A case study of grammatical and social correspondences in Sinhala

The H(igh) and L(ow) varieties of diglossic language situations are traditionally described as separate grammatical systems. Descriptions of this sort are unsatisfactory for two reasons. For grammatical theory, they provide no account of the substantial shared grammatical properties of H and L in diglossic systems. For sociolinguistic theory, such descriptions provide no account of the relation between the grammatical features of H and L and their communicative functions. The problem is even more acute when one considers the grammatically and functionally intermediate varieties of language found in diglossias. These varieties are seldom mentioned in traditional descriptions, but their existence and the systematic relationships between their grammar and communicative functions and those of H and L require a different approach to grammatical description.;This dissertation addresses the problems of grammatical description in diglossia by recognizing the association between individual grammatical features and types of communicative contexts; this association is given the term "functional articulation". Overlap in the communicative contexts associated with different grammatical features gives rise to the intermediate varieties observed in diglossic situations. H and L are no longer seen as separate grammatical systems; they form an integrated whole whose intermediate varieties provide an explanatory basis for the description of the entire system.;This form of grammatical description is developed through an in-depth case study of Sinhala, an Indo-Aryan language spoken in Sri Lanka. The grammatical differences between Literary Sinhala (H) and Colloquial Sinhala (L) and the functions of these two varieties in Sri Lankan society are presented. Following this, a detailed study of the language of thirty Sinhala texts is undertaken, and functional values are assigned to different grammatical features on the basis of the analysis of these texts. These results are formalized in the notation of Head-Driven Phrase Structure Grammar.