Collected Works | Department of English and American Studies

Collected Works
of Jan Firbas

Collected Works of Jan Firbas was a project initiated in 2006 by Professor Aleš Svoboda with the goal of translating to English and publishing in five volumes selected articles by Jan Firbas concerning the theory of Functional Sentence Perspective. Unfortunately, despite all the intensive work he dedicated to the project, Professor Svoboda did not live to see the first volume published. The role of the editor in chief was then taken over by Jana Chamonikolasová. The work was completed in 2021, the year of prof. Firbas’s 100th birthday.

All volumes are available for purchase in the Masaryk University e-shop.

The five volumes include the following articles by Jan Firbas:

2010 Collected Works of Jan Firbas. Volume One (1951–1967), edited by A. Svoboda, J. Chamonikolasová & L. Urbanová, Brno: Masaryk University. ISBN 978-80-210-5128-7

Some notes on the problem of English word order from the point of view of FSP
On the problem of non-thematic subjects in contemporary English
Some thoughts on the function of word order in Old English and Modern English
Notes on one German contribution to the problem of sentence perspective
Thoughts on the communicative function of the verb in English, German and Czech
More thoughts on the communicative function of the English verb
An additional note on the position of the situational adverbs in English and Czech
On the commumcative value of the modern English finite verb
Notes on the function of the sentence in the act of communication
A note on the place of FSP in the structure of the language
From comparative word-order studies
On defining the theme in functional sentence analysis
A note on transition proper in functional sentence analysis
Non-thematic subjects in contemporary English
It was yesterday that...

2013 Collected Works of Jan Firbas. Volume Two (1968–1978), edited by J. Chamonikolasová, M. Černý & L. Urbanová, Brno: Masaryk University. ISBN 978-80-210-5849-1

On the prosodic features of the modern English finite verb as means of functional sentence perspective: More thoughts on transition proper
On the prosodic features of the modern English finite verb-object combination as means of functional sentence perspective
Linguistic research in the Brno Philosophical Faculty and its associations with the Linguistic School of Prague
Note on the prosodic features as means of functional sentence perspective
On the interplay of means of functional sentence perspective
On the concept of communicative dynamism in the theory of functional sentence perspective
Functions of the question in the process of communication
A note on the intonation of questions from the point of view of the theory of functional sentence perspective
On the interplay of prosodic and non-prosodic means of functional sentence perspective
Notes on the role of the temporal and modal exponents of the finite verb form in functional sentence perspective
Some aspects of the Czechoslovak approach to problems of functional sentence perspective
On ‘existence/appearance on the scene’ in functional sentence perspective
On the thematic and the non-thematic section of the sentence
On contrastive studies in functional sentence perspective
A study in the functional perspective of the English and the Slavonic interrogative sentence
On issues concerning the theme of the utterance

2014 Collected Works of Jan Firbas. Volume Three (1979–1986), edited by J. Chamonikolasová, M. Černý & E. Golková, Brno: Masaryk University. ISBN 978-80-210-7676-1

A functional view of ‘ordo naturalis’
Reflection on Ertl’s conception of Czech word order
Post-intonation-centre prosodic shade in the modern English clause
A note on static semantics and dynamic semantics
On the concept of the ‘basic distribution of communicative dynamism’
Scene and perspective
Is ‘functional sentence perspective’ an equivalent of ‘aktuální členění větné’?
Has every sentence a theme and a rheme?
On bipartition, tripartition and pluripartition in the theory of functional sentence perspective
On the concepts of scene and perspective in Fillmore’s approach and in that of functional sentence perspective
On some basic issues of the theory of functional sentence perspective
Carriers of communicative dynamism
Thoughts on functional sentence perspective, intonation and emotiveness
A case-study in the dynamics of written communication
On the dynamics of written communication in the light of the theory of functional sentence perspective
A systemic view of functional sentence perspective

2021 Collected Works of Jan Firbas. Volume Four

to be added

2021 Collected Works of Jan Firbas. Volume Five

to be added

Collected Worksof Jan Firbas

Collected Works
of Jan Firbas