The functional pragmatics of the 21st century

The present article is dedicated to a very distinct and fascinating branch of pragmatics that was elaborated in Germany in the second half of the 20th century. It is mostly connected with the names of Konrad Ehlich and Jochen Rehbein. Functional Pragmatics (FP) was based on the ideas of Karl Bьhler and was advanced through the efforts of Ludger Hoffmann, Angelika Redder, Kristin Bьhrig, Wilhelm GrieЯhaber and their followers. The article focuses predominantly upon the latest studies within the framework of FP that emerged in the 21st century. FP deals with human verbal behaviour and verbal actions. FP has developed or loaned terminology that helps to analyse discourses (spoken language) and texts (written speech) like pattern, procedure, succession, substantiation, cohesion etc. This approach can be practically applied in the institutional and intercultural communication, in teaching and testing languages and so on. A special interest is placed into philosophical and historical parallels between the German and the Soviet / Russian scholarship. The names of Vygotsky, Jakubinsky, Bachtin are very familiar for the representatives of the FP. Usually, it welcomes interdisciplinarity, multimodality, technical and electronic instruments of the speech investigation. In the recent times, a project has addressed the idea of lingua receptiva, or the intercomprehension of the genetically related languages.