Role and Reference Grammar

Role and Reference Grammar [RRG] grew out of an attempt to answer two basic questions: (i) what would linguistic theory look like
if it were based on the analysis of languages with diverse structures such as Lakhota, Tagalog, Dyirbal and Barai, rather than on the analysis of English?, and (ii) how can the interaction of syntax, semantics and pragmatics in different grammatical systems best be captured and explained? RRG takes language to be a system of communicative social action, and accordingly, analyzing the communicative functions of grammatical structures plays a vital role in grammatical description and theory from this perspective. It is a monostratal theory, positing only one level of syntactic representation, the actual form of the sentence.
(from: Robert D. Van Valin, Jr. A Summary of Role and Reference Grammar, p. 1)

Key references

Van Valin, Robert D. Jr. 2023. Principles of Role and Reference Grammar. In Delia Bentley, Ricardo Mairal Usón, Wataru Nakamura & Robert D. Van Valin Jr. (eds.). The Cambridge Handbook of Role and Reference Grammar, 17-178. Cambridge: CUP.
Van Valin, Robert D. Jr. 2005. Exploring the Syntax-Semantics Interface. Cambridge: CUP.
Van Valin, Robert D. Jr & Randy LaPolla. 1997. Syntax. Structure, Meaning and Function. Cambridge: CUP.
William Foley & Robert D. Van Valin Jr. 1984. Functional Syntax and Universal Grammar. Cambridge: CUP.

RRG book series

Studies in Role and Reference Grammar at De Gruyter Brill
Series editors: Delia Bentley, Jens Fleischhauer, Lilián Guerrero & Mitsuaki Shimojo

Vol. 1 Bentley, Delia, Jens Fleischhauer, Lilián Guerrero & Mitsuaki Shimojo (eds.). Role and Reference Grammar: New Developments and Perspectives. Berlin: De Gruyter Brill. [Open Access]

Upcoming events

19th International Conference on Role and Reference Grammar (September 9-10, 2027, Mexico City)
Call for Abstracts

Join the RRG community

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