Role and Reference Grammar

Presentation By :
Um-e-Laila
Mphil Applied Linguistics (UOL)
What is a Reference Grammar?
• A reference grammar is a prose-like description of the major
grammatical constructions in a language, illustrated with
examples. A description of the grammar of a language, with
explanations of the principles governing the construction of
words, phrases, clauses, and sentences.
• Role and reference grammar (RRG) is a model of grammar
developed by William A. Foley and Robert Van Valin, Jr. in
the 1980s, which incorporates many of the points of view of
current functional grammar theories.
 RRG
• Role and reference grammar (RRG) is a functional theory of
language which allows an text to be represented in terms of
its logical structure.
• Among the main features of RRG are the use of lexical
decomposition based upon semantics of David Dowdy
(1979), an analysis of clause structure, and the use of a set
of thematic roles organized into a heirarchy in which the
highest-ranking roles are “Actor” (for the most active
participant) and “Undergoer.”
 RRG
• In RRG, the description of a sentence in a particular
language is formulated in terms of:

• a. Its logical (semantic) structure and communicative

functions.
• b. The grammatical procedures that are available in the
language for the expressions of these meanings
 RRG

• A reference grammar is … designed to teach

someone about the language and to give readers a
reference tool for looking up specific details of the
language.
 What are the roles of Grammar?
• There are three central components in layered structure of
clause LSC. They are the three fundamental building blocks
of complex sentences in human language.
• The pattern of the complex sentences involved the
combination of:
L

• Nucleus , clause and core.

• The three components are called ‘Juncture’ : Nucleus

juncture, clausal juncture and core juncture.
 Examples:
• 1.Fred push the sliding door open.
• (two nuclei in a single core: push and open.)

• 2.Fred persuaded his friend Billy to open the door.

• (Two cores in a single clause)

• 3.Fred talks to Marry and she agreed on his suggestions.

• (Two clauses in a single sentence)
 Semantic structure
• Semantic structure falls in role of grammar too.
• The system of lexical representation and semantic role is the
heart of the RRG approach.

• The verbal system is based on the four classification of verbs

:
• States
• Activities
• Achievements
• Accomplishments
 Example of sentence classification:
1. STATE: The fan is broken .(broken-the fan)

2. ACHIEVEMENT: The fan broke( become broken- the fan)

3. ACCOMPLISHMENT: Billy broke the fan.( done by Billy and

caused become broken-the fan)

4. ACTIVITY : The fan is shaken loudly.( do fan, shaking lamp)

Semantic structure

• The RRG theory of semantic structure is different from the

previous theories:
• This structure has two kind of relation:
• The specific thematic relations.(Such as the agent, patient,
theme,and experiencer.
• The semantic macroroles such as actor and undergoes.
Semantic macroroles
• The second type semantic macroroles plays crucial roles because it
acts as primary interface between language structure and systactic
representation.

• Examples
• The boy (subject & actor) ate the sandwich (agnet & undergoer)
• The sandwich (subject & undergoer) was eaten by the boy (actor)
Thanks