The Cambridge Handbook of Role and Reference Grammar

With contributions from a team of leading scholars, this book provides a field-defining overview of Role and Reference Grammar.

Delia Bentley (Edited by), Ricardo Mairal Usón (Edited by), Wataru Nakamura (Edited by), Robert D. Van Valin, Jr (Edited by)

9781107130456, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 22 June 2023

997 pages
25.1 x 17.7 x 5.8 cm, 1.88 kg

Role and Reference Grammar (RRG) is a theory of language in which linguistic structures are accounted for in terms of the interplay of discourse, semantics and syntax. With contributions from a team of leading scholars, this Handbook provides a field-defining overview of RRG. Assuming no prior knowledge, it introduces the framework step-by-step, and includes a pedagogical guide for instructors. It features in-depth discussions of syntax, morphology, and lexical semantics, including treatments of lexical and grammatical categories, the syntax of simple clauses and complex sentences, and how the linking of syntax with semantics and discourse works in each of these domains. It illustrates RRG's contribution to the study of language acquisition, language change and processing, computational linguistics, and neurolinguistics, and also contains five grammatical sketches which show how RRG analyses work in practice. Comprehensive yet accessible, it is essential reading for anyone who is interested in how grammar interfaces with meaning.

List of figures
List of tables
List of contributors
Pedagogical guide Robert D. Van Valin, Jr.
Introduction Delia Bentley
Part I. Overview: 1. Principles of role and reference grammar Robert D. Van Valin Jr.
Part II. Topics in RRG: Simple sentences
2. Lexical and grammatical categories in RRG John M. Peterson
3. A conceptually-oriented approach to semantic composition in RRG Ricardo Mairal-Usón and Pamela Faber
4. Semantic macroroles Rolf Kailuweit
5. Grammatical relations Randy J. LaPolla
6. Argument structure alternations James K. Watters
7. Case assignment Wataru Nakamura
8. Morphology in RRG: the layered structure of the word, inflection and derivation Francisco J. Cortés-Rodríguez
9. Adverbs, mimetics and ideophones Kiyoko Toratani
10. Adposition assignment and adpositional phrase types in RRG Sergio Ibáñez Cerda
11. The RRG approach to information structure Delia Bentley
12. Information structure and argument linking Anja Latrouite and Robert D. Valin, Jr.
Part III. Topics in RRG: Complex sentences
13. The structure and semantics of complex sentences Toshio Ohori
14. Linking syntax and semantics in adverbial (adjoined) clauses Lilián Guerrero
15. Cleft sentences and relative clauses Luis Paris
16. Extraction restrictions in complex sentences Mitsuaki Shimojo
Part IV. Applications of RRG: 17. Role and reference grammar and diachronic syntax Ranko Matasovi?
18. Functional acquisition processes in child language: links to role and reference grammar Richard M. Weist
19. Grammatical aspects of language processing in the brain: a role and reference grammar perspective Robert D. Van Valin, Jr.
20. Formalization of RRG syntax Laura Kallmeyer and Rainer Osswald
21. Computational implementation and applications of role and reference grammar Brian Nolan
Part V. Grammatical sketches: 22. A grammatical sketch of Cheyenne (Plains Algonquian, USA) Avelino Corral Esteban
23. A grammatical sketch of Yimas (Lower Sepik, Papua New Guinea) Willian A. Foley
24. A grammatical sketch of Avatime (Kwa, Niger-Congo, Ghana) Saskia van Putten and Rebecca Defina
25. A grammatical sketch of Amele (Papuan, Papua New Guinea) John R. Roberts
26. Case and voice in Amis (Austronesian, Taiwan) Joy J. Wu
Index.

Subject Areas: Grammar, syntax & morphology [CFK]