role and reference grammar (RRG)

A FUNCTIONALLY orientated framework for GRAMMATICAL DESCRIPTION, in which the choice of a grammatical structure is determined by an interaction of SEMANTIC (i.e. role) factors and PRAGMATIC or CONTEXTUAL (i.e. reference) factors. The focus is on the STRUCTURE of the CLAUSE, analyzed into a ‘core’ layer (a ‘nuclear’ VERB and its associated ARGUMENTS) and a ‘periphery’ (e.g. ADJUNCTS), and supplemented by a theory of JUNCTURE (how sub-clausal UNITS combine) and a theory of NEXUS (the types of SYNTACTIC relationship between the units in the juncture). These elemental units are used in an ‘interclausal grammar’ to analyze the variety of clausal, sentential and larger constructions found in languages. The approach is LEXICALLY based and makes no use of DERIVATIONS. It functions by establishing the contextual conditions which govern the pairing of meaning REPRESENTATIONS to structural REALIZATIONS.