ON THE ISSUE OF LANGUAGE FUNCTIONS: IDENTIFICATION
The paper examines the issues of determining language functions primarily from two perspectives: a system approach and discursive interpretation. An overview of traditional functions - communicative, cognitive and emotional is provided along with critical analysis of the content and status of a number of other language functions. The author argues the importance of distinguishing one more language function and suggests a term for it - identification. In this function language marks and translates cultural-linguistic identity of speakers and speech communities.