Role and reference grammar
Encyclopedia
Role and Reference Grammar (RRG) is a model of grammar
developed by William Foley
and Robert Van Valin, Jr.
in the 1980s, which incorporates many of the points of view of current functional grammar
theories.
In RRG, the description of a sentence in a particular language is formulated in terms of (a) its logical (semantic) structure and communicative functions, and (b) the grammatical procedures that are available in the language for the expression of these meanings.
Among the main features of RRG are the use of lexical decomposition, based upon the predicate semantics of David Dowty (1979), an analysis of clause structure
, and the use of a set of thematic role
s organized into a hierarchy in which the highest-ranking roles are 'Actor' (for the most active participant) and 'Undergoer'.
Grammar
In linguistics, grammar is the set of structural rules that govern the composition of clauses, phrases, and words in any given natural language. The term refers also to the study of such rules, and this field includes morphology, syntax, and phonology, often complemented by phonetics, semantics,...
developed by William Foley
William Foley
William Foley is an American linguist and professor at the University of Sydney. He specialises in Papuan and Austronesian languages. He is perhaps best known for his 1986 book The Papuan Languages of New Guinea and his partnership with Robert Van Valin in the development of role and reference...
and Robert Van Valin, Jr.
Robert Van Valin, Jr.
Robert D. Van Valin is the principal writer behind Role and Reference Grammar, a functional theory of grammar encompassing syntax, semantics and discourse pragmatics, which is connected to other functional theories, like S. Dik's Functional Grammar, and also to the cognitive linguistics field...
in the 1980s, which incorporates many of the points of view of current functional grammar
Functional grammar
Functional theories of grammar include a range of functionally based approaches to linguistics, the scientific study of language. The grammar model developed by Simon Dik bears this qualification in its name, functional grammar, as does Michael Halliday's systemic functional grammar.Role and...
theories.
In RRG, the description of a sentence in a particular language is formulated in terms of (a) its logical (semantic) structure and communicative functions, and (b) the grammatical procedures that are available in the language for the expression of these meanings.
Among the main features of RRG are the use of lexical decomposition, based upon the predicate semantics of David Dowty (1979), an analysis of clause structure
Clause
In grammar, a clause is the smallest grammatical unit that can express a complete proposition. In some languages it may be a pair or group of words that consists of a subject and a predicate, although in other languages in certain clauses the subject may not appear explicitly as a noun phrase,...
, and the use of a set of thematic role
Thematic role
Thematic role is a linguistic notion, which may refer to:* Theta role * Thematic relation...
s organized into a hierarchy in which the highest-ranking roles are 'Actor' (for the most active participant) and 'Undergoer'.
External links
- Introduction to RRG ("A Summary of Role and Reference Grammar" PDF
- Role and Reference Grammar (Van Valin's site)