Description: 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.
Brief description: Ricardo Mairal-Usón is Full Professor of Linguistics at Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia since 2002. He has co-authored or co-edited a number of books including Nuevas perspectivas en Gramática Funcional (Ariel, 1999), which was awarded the Nation Research Price AEDEAN 1999, and Linguistic Universals (with Gil, CUP, 2006).