The Syntax of Let Construction in English: A Systemic Functional Approach

Abstract

The syntactic issue of English let construction has long been one of the hot topics in linguistic research. Opinions about its syntax are various among grammarians, especially about the problem of how to deal with let. Systemic functional grammar claims that the relationship between meaning and form is realization, e.g. meaning is realized in form. Meaning is the generative base of systemic functional grammar. Therefore, the principle of functional syntactic analysis is that functional syntactic analysis should be " meaning-centered. " Based on the basic principle of functional syntax and COCA (Corpus of Contemporary American English) data, the paper aims to investigate the syntax of let construction within systemic functional approach. It is concluded that English let construction has two different functional structures: one is canonical imperative let construction; the other is specialized imperative let construction. As for the functional syntax, let within the canonical imperative let construction should be analyzed as the Main Verb, and let within the specialized imperative let construction should be analyzed as the direct element of the clause, that is Let element. Functional syntactic analysis has its own principles, features, and methods. The academic explorations based on systemic functional theory are of great significance both theoretically and practically.