linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Ling ...

, relational grammar (RG) is a

syntactic In linguistics, syntax () is the study of how words and morphemes combine to form larger units such as phrases and sentences. Central concerns of syntax include word order, grammatical relations, hierarchical sentence structure (constituency) ...

theory which argues that primitive

grammatical relations In linguistics, grammatical relations (also called grammatical functions, grammatical roles, or syntactic functions) are functional relationships between constituents in a clause. The standard examples of grammatical functions from traditional gra ...

provide the ideal means to state syntactic rules in universal terms. Relational grammar began as an alternative to

transformational grammar In linguistics, transformational grammar (TG) or transformational-generative grammar (TGG) is part of the theory of generative grammar, especially of natural languages. It considers grammar to be a system of rules that generate exactly those combi ...

Grammatical relations hierarchy

In relational grammar, constituents that serve as the

arguments An argument is a statement or group of statements called premises intended to determine the degree of truth or acceptability of another statement called conclusion. Arguments can be studied from three main perspectives: the logical, the dialectic ...

to predicates are numbered in what is called the grammatical relations (GR) hierarchy. This numbering system corresponds loosely to the notions of subject,

direct object In linguistics, an object is any of several types of arguments. In subject-prominent, nominative-accusative languages such as English, a transitive verb typically distinguishes between its subject and any of its objects, which can include b ...

and

indirect object In linguistics, an object is any of several types of arguments. In subject-prominent, nominative-accusative languages such as English, a transitive verb typically distinguishes between its subject and any of its objects, which can include but ...

. The numbering scheme is subject → (1), direct object → (2) and indirect object → (3). Other constituents (such as

oblique Oblique may refer to: * an alternative name for the character usually called a slash (punctuation) ( / ) *Oblique angle, in geometry *Oblique triangle, in geometry * Oblique lattice, in geometry * Oblique leaf base, a characteristic shape of the b ...

genitive In grammar, the genitive case ( abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive can a ...

, and object of

comparative general linguistics, the comparative is a syntactic construction that serves to express a comparison between two (or more) entities or groups of entities in quality or degree - see also comparison (grammar) for an overview of comparison, as well ...

) are called ''nonterms'' (N). The predicate is marked (P). According to

Geoffrey K. Pullum Geoffrey Keith Pullum (; born 8 March 1945) is a British and American linguist specialising in the study of English. He is Professor Emeritus of General Linguistics at the University of Edinburgh. Pullum is a co-author of ''The Cambridge Gram ...

(1977), the GR hierarchy directly corresponds to the

accessibility hierarchy A relative clause is a clause that modifies a noun or noun phraseRodney D. Huddleston, Geoffrey K. Pullum, ''A Student's Introduction to English Grammar'', CUP 2005, p. 183ff. and uses some grammatical device to indicate that one of the arguments ...

: A schematic representation of a clause in this formalism might look like:

Other features

* Strata * Chomage (see chômeur) * Predicate valence

Universals

One of the components of RG theory is a set of

linguistic universal A linguistic universal is a pattern that occurs systematically across natural languages, potentially true for all of them. For example, ''All languages have nouns and verbs'', or ''If a language is spoken, it has consonants and vowels.'' Research ...

s stated in terms of the numbered roles presented above. Such a universal is the ''stratal uniqueness law'', which states that there can be at most ''one'' 1, 2, and 3 per stratum. Pullum (1977) lists three more universals: # The NP constituents of a clause are linearized in their GR hierarchy order, from left to right. # The verb of a clause may be placed in #: (a) initial position in all clauses, #: (b) second position in all clauses, or #: (c) final position in all clauses. # If placement of the verb leaves the subject NP noninitial, the subject may be assigned final position. However, Pullum formulated these universals before the discovery of languages with object-initial word order. After the discovery of such languages, he retracted his prior statements.

References

Sources

*Johnson, David E. (1974–1979). ''Toward a Theory of Relationally-based Grammar.'' Outstanding Dissertations in Linguistics Series, ed. Jorge Hankamer. NY: Garland Publishing, Inc. *Johnson, David E. and Paul M. Postal (1980). ''Arc Pair Grammar.'' Princeton: PUP. *Newmeyer, Frederick (1980). Linguistics in America. New York: Academic Press. *Postal, Paul M. (1974). ''On Raising - An Inquiry into One Rule of English Grammar and Its Theoretical Implications.'' Mass.: MIT Press.

External links

RG SIL bibliography
Grammar frameworks {{syntax-stub