This chapter deals with the Role and Reference Grammar (RRG) approach to extraction restrictions, or island constraints. The cross-linguistic and language-internal (i.e. cross-constructional) variation in extraction restrictions is captured in RRG in terms of how deeply into sentence structure assertion may be represented. Some languages allow the potential focus domain to reach individual constituents in both complement and adverbial subordinate clauses, with consequences on the extractability of such constituents. One such case is Japanese, a more permissive language than English, which provides the main case study discussed in the chapter.

This chapter discusses argument structure alternations capitalizing on the Role and Reference Grammar (RRG) notions of logical structure, macrorole and privileged syntactic argument assignment, and linking. A distinction is drawn between lexical and syntactic processes. The lexical alternations (for example, causativization and anticausativization) are often limited in productivity and serve to enrich the lexicon. The syntactic alternations (for example, passivization and antipassivization) are characterized by mappings between the lexical and the syntactic levels, and may play an important role in referent tracking or topic continuity.

This chapter provides a grammatical sketch of Yimas, a morphologically highly complex polysynthetic language spoken in the Sepik basin region of the northern swampy lowlands of Papua New Guinea. The chapter discusses the extensively elaborated word structure of Yimas and the non-configurational property of its clauses, which lack the familiar syntactic category of phrases. Particular emphasis is placed on the system of agreement on the two principal word classes of the language, nouns and verbs, transitivity and macrorole assignment, alignment, clause linkage and nominalizations.

This chapter offers an in-depth discussion of semantic macroroles and macrorole assignment in Role and Reference Grammar (RRG). In the first part, the RRG theory of thematic relations is discussed in the context of a brief history of theta roles and generalized semantic roles. The second part turns to the role of Aktionsart, semantic and syntactic transitivity, and causativity in macrorole assignment. Although the focus of the chapter is on standard RRG, the third part of the chapter discusses alternative approaches, concerning the number of macroroles that should be postulated and the semantic features that are relevant to macrorole assignment.

This chapter discusses the place of inflectional and derivational morphology in Role and Reference Grammar (RRG). After describing how inflection is encoded in the layered structure of the word, the chapter offers an explanatory account of the factors that motivate inflectional marking. The functional orientation of RRG presupposes a view of morphology distributed throughout the different components of the grammatical model. Additionally, the typological commitment of RRG requires paying close attention to the role of inflectional processes not only in dependent-marking languages but also in head-marking languages, since the interface between inflectional morphology and syntax is much tighter in the latter type of language. The chapter then reflects on word formation as a lexicological process which involves the interaction of lexical semantics and morphology. The approach to derivational morphology can be said to be markedly motivated by semantics.

This chapter proposes a functional theory of language acquisition based on the idea that children utilize their understanding of cognitive and communicative principles to construct a grammar that integrates semantic and pragmatic notions. The chapter explores child language data that are relevant to such issues as how layered clause structure, operator projection, predicate structure and grammatical relations are acquired within a communication-and-cognition framework. In showing how the language acquisition data map to the Role and Reference Grammar framework, the chapter includes contrasts with alternative theories, such as autonomous syntax theory. From the perspective of conceptual development, the infant-toddler is viewed as a relatively proficient information processor with the capacity to discover fundamental linguistic relationships, in the spirit of the theory of Operating Principles (Slobin 1985).

This chapter presents a sketch grammar of Amis, an Austronesian language spoken in Taiwan. The data are representative of the Central dialect of this language. The focus of the discussion is on phenomena related to its case marking and voice, such as applicative constructions and grammatical relations. An in-depth discussion of macrorole assignment with one-place predicates is included.

This chapter proposes a Role and Reference Grammar (RRG) analysis of externally and internally headed relative clauses, free relatives, non-restrictive relatives, and it-cleft sentences. Particular emphasis is placed on the interface properties of these constructions and the challenges that they pose in the syntax–semantics and semantics–syntax linking. The chapter also reflects on the similarities and differences between relatives and clefts.

This chapter presents the fundamental theoretical principles of Role and Reference Grammar. The exposition does not presuppose any previous familiarity with RRG, and it ties in with the relevant chapters in the Handbook. After a discussion of theoretical assumptions, the theory of syntactic structure, including clauses, phrases and words, is presented in detail, with new data not found in previous expositions of the theory. The presentation includes the structure of both simple and complex sentences. The next major section concerns semantic representation, and this includes the representation of simple clauses, semantics roles and interclausal semantic relations. There follows a very short mention of the notion of information structure; the reader is referred to two other chapters which present these ideas in detail. The final section concerns the linking between syntax and semantics in simple and complex sentences. The issue of representing language-specific vs. cross-linguistically valid grammatical information is a major theme of this section. RRG’s approach involving constructional schemata is quite distinct from that of mainstream construction grammar.

This chapter introduces the theoretical constructs adopted by Role and Reference Grammar (RRG) in the treatment of information structure and addresses the question of the place of information structure in the architecture of grammar. It is claimed that RRG offers an approach to information structure which is flexible enough to capture the cross-linguistic variation in the role played by discourse in the semantics–syntax and syntax–semantics linking, while also being sufficiently constrained to make important generalizations on the expression of pragmatic states and pragmatic relations, and their interface with prosody, morphology and sentence structure.

This chapter explicates the Role and Reference Grammar (RRG) theory of case assignment and outlines its OT implementation and its extension to instrumental case assignment and case syncretism. The ’non-OT’ theory of case assignment in RRG is a version of dependent case theory that assigns nominative, accusative, absolutive and ergative case in terms of the ranking of actor and undergoer, while its OT-based counterpart defines accusative, ergative, dative and instrumental case with reference to (non-)macrorole status, conflates nominative and absolutive as an any-argument case, and derives the variation of case syncretism from the case hierarchy of Silverstein (1980/1993).

This chapter explores the computational implementation and applications of Role and Reference Grammar (RRG). We discuss computational work which provides evidence that the RRG approach to grammar has a beneficial role to play in natural language processing (NLP) and delivers a credible and realistic linguistic model to underpin NLP applications. The computability of the model has been tested in diverse software applications. We characterize these and explain how RRG is used to underpin the linguistic component in the architecture of a number of software systems and applications. We conclude with a discussion of the contribution that RRG can provide to NLP. We discuss how the RRG model is translated into software, and some of the challenges involved. The chapter is a testimonial to how the RRG model of language can be successfully implemented in software.

This grammatical sketch explores sentence structure in Cheyenne/Tsêhésenêstsestôtse (Plains Algonquian, USA). We first describe the principal morphosyntactic features of Cheyenne and offer a brief account of grammatical phenomena that benefit from a Role and Reference Grammar (RRG) analysis: basic clause types, verb valence and transitivity, the marking of core arguments, argument-adjuncts and adjuncts, and the linking algorithm. This analysis shows that there is no evidence for the postulation of grammatical relations, save for a pragmatically influenced privileged syntactic argument, and supports the hierarchical scope order of operators postulated by RRG. We then illustrate the fundamental role of pragmatics in argument coding, macrorole assignment, and word order by examining the relationship of information structure with the reference-tracking system of obviation and the direct/inverse system. These systems work jointly with the Person and Semantic Function Hierarchies. Despite word order variability, it is possible to integrate information structure into clause structure and explore the intricate mechanism that accommodates semantic information into syntactic structure.

This chapter discusses the Role and Reference Grammar (RRG) treatment of adpositional assignment and introduces a new typology of adpositional phrase types, which arises from the combination of three binary features: [±argument], which corresponds to the semantic status of the participant introduced; [±core], which indicates whether this is a core argument or a peripheral adjunct; [±predicative], which manifests the predicative or non-predicative function of the adposition. The combinations of the three features provide the basis for a principled classification of adpositional phrases, which captures the distinct functions adpositions can have in different clauses.

This chapter offers an in-depth treatment of clause linkage and complex sentences in RRG. First, it discusses and exemplifies each nexus–juncture type, adducing evidence from a wide range of languages. Then, it introduces the notion of syntactic and semantic cohesiveness in clause linkage and makes relevant generalizations and predictions.