Found theese over on Tape Op the other week. They're along the lines of what you're talking 'bout.
MOTOWN RECORDING TECHNIQUES INDEX http://www.phobospeepl.dk/documents/shitty1.pdf http://www.phobospeepl.dk/documents/shitty2.pdf
If this contribution and a few years Djing funk and old soul allows me .02--I'd say the most defining factor in funk is doing whatever it is that you do with whatever it is that you've got on hand.
That and maybe doing it to death.
Long live Charles Wright and the 103rd St Rhythm Band, Dyke and the Blazers, King Floyd and Lee Dorsey!
The Real Thing YouTube - Lee Dorsey - Give It Up (audio only)