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# The Linguistic Description and Analysis of 2 Samuel 11–12 From The Perspective of Functional Grammar In the Tradition of Simon Dik

**Authors:** Matthew Anstey · **Year:** 2000 · **Venue:** thesis, Charles Sturt University **Link:** [researchoutput.csu.edu.au/en/publications/277bd04f-0a27-44ef-8867-bfa3d72b1ace](https://researchoutput.csu.edu.au/en/publications/277bd04f-0a27-44ef-8867-bfa3d72b1ace) · not in the library (download refused, HTTP 403, 2026-10-17) · **Licence:** free to read, no CC licence — summary only

[**0** citations](https://openalex.org/works?filter=cites:W2997347275) openalex · 2026-10-18

- [Publisher's page](https://doi.org/10.2986/tren.048-0243)
- [PDF](https://researchoutput.csu.edu.au/files/31136493/thesis_complete.pdf)
- [DOI 10.2986/tren.048-0243](https://doi.org/10.2986/tren.048-0243)
- [OpenAlex](https://openalex.org/W2997347275)

**Authors (1)**

1. [Matthew Anstey](https://openalex.org/A5079380722) [ORCID](https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0688-1809) · h 5 · 71 citations · 53 works

Citations and author metrics from openalex (2026-10-18); authors with the same name are not always told apart.

## What it is about

**Not read: the PDF could not be fetched.** From the title and the framework it names: the thesis describes the David–Bathsheba–Uriah story and Nathan's parable (2 Samuel 11–12) in Simon Dik's Functional Grammar. That framework gives each clause a layered structure (predicate, predication, proposition, illocution), assigns semantic functions (Agent, Goal, Recipient …), syntactic functions (Subject, Object) and pragmatic functions: Topic and Focus inside the clause, Theme (a constituent set out before it) and Tail (one added after it). Anstey later wrote a functional grammar of the Hebrew verb, so the thesis is likely to treat tense, mood and illocution in the same layered way. Check against the text.

## Ideas

- I1. (to check) Use Dik's extra-clausal functions as labels in our trees: a left-dislocated NP with a resumptive pronoun = Theme, an afterthought NP = Tail; both map to UD `dislocated`.
- I2. (to check) Separate illocution (statement, question, command, request) from verb form: record illocution in the `act` column of `prag.tsv` independently of MISC `Type`, as FG's layering suggests.
- I3. Nathan's parable as a test of embedded fiction: a story told inside a quote should open a nested world, not add events to the main one.

## For Mova

I1 applies to `tools/macula` (`dislocated`) and `08-syntax.md` (dislocation); I2 to `src/prag.rs`; I3 to the world reader (nested narrative inside speech). The thesis is on 2 Samuel, outside the Torah trees. Re-read once the PDF is in.

Topics: [Speech act theory](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/docs/papers/topics/speech-act-theory/)

## Cite

The paper itself, not this card. BibTeX from the library's record of the work. [DOI 10.2986/tren.048-0243](https://doi.org/10.2986/tren.048-0243)

```
@misc{anstey2000linguistic,
  title = {{The Linguistic Description and Analysis of 2 Samuel 11–12 From The Perspective of Functional Grammar In the Tradition of Simon Dik}},
  author = {Anstey, Matthew},
  year = {2000},
  doi = {10.2986/tren.048-0243},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.2986/tren.048-0243}
}
```

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