Description:
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>This article addresses the question of how the theory of Functional Discourse Grammar (FDG), with its clear distinction between lexicon and grammar, can deal with semi-fixed constructions by proposing a consistent and cognitively plausible account of idiomatic expressions that can not only deal with the partly unpredictable and partly productive character of these expressions, but also with the variation within the class of idioms. It is argued that, on the basis of both semantic and syntactic criteria, three major types of idiom can be distinguished. Subsequently, an FDG analysis is provided which shows that the syntactic behavior of these types is not entirely arbitrary and unpredictable, but that it can to a large extent be accounted for by the specific functional properties of each of these types. Finally, the article addresses the question of how to represent idioms in the FDG lexicon. It is suggested that the lexical entry of an idiom should take the form of a meaning definition which is associated with a semi-fixed combination of interpersonal and representation frames and morphosyntactic templates specifying the functional and formal constraints on individual idioms, while at the same time accounting for the (different degrees of) syntactic flexibility exhibited by the three major types of idiom. All that is needed for idioms to be integrated in the theory of FDG, it is concluded, is the introduction of a new primitive, the so-called ComPIF (Combination of Partially Instantiated Frames).</jats:p>