Discourse Grammar (DG) is a grammatical framework that grew out of the analysis of spoken and written linguistic discourse on the one hand, and of work on parenthetical expressions, including Simon C. Dik's study of extra-clausal constituents, on the other. Initiated by Gunther Kaltenböck, Bernd Heine and Tania Kuteva, the framework is based on the distinction between two organizing principles of grammar where one concerns the structure of sentences and the other the linguistic organization beyond the sentence.
In accordance with the perspective adopted in this framework, linguistic units such as formulae of social exchange, interjections, discourse markers and other prefabricated expressions, which tend to be assigned a more marginal status in many models of mainstream linguistics, are interpreted as playing an important role in structuring linguistic discourse.