Functors

Functors are the work horses of syntax.

Functors like the and a and the regular marker of plurality, s, have their only role in the structure of a sentence in relation to one or more ‘lexical’ or ‘content’ words, nouns like book, verbs like sit, adjectives like big, prepositions like on, adverbs like slowly.

Functors are easily distinguished from lexical items by the fact that they readily change their form, a and the varying according to whether they are followed by a vowel or consonant, plural -s taking one of three forms according to whether the previous element is voiced, as a vowel or a voiced consonant such as M or D, as in pays, pads, pans, or voiceless as in pats, or ‘sibilant’ as in wish, witch, wedge, forcing a vowel in between.

Very roughly, lexical items and functors alternate in the sequence of spoken language.