Advances in Role and Reference Grammar

124 ROBERT D. VAN VALIN, JR.

7. Linking syntactic and semantic representations in complex sentences

7.1 General considerations

The linking scheme introduced in section 5.2 can be extended in a natural

way to deal with complex sentences. With respect to clausal junctures, each

clause is linked independently to a distinct LS, and therefore no modifica­

tions are required to handle them. The same is true with respect to nuclear

junctures. In a nuclear juncture, predicates combine to form a single, com­

plex nucleus, and for linking purposes the predicates act as a single complex

LS. As an illustration of this, consider the LS of (104b) (repeated in 112a).

(112) a. Je ferai manger les gâteaux ά Jean.

lsG make.FUT eat the cakes to John

"I will make John eat the cakes."

b. [do' (Je)] CAUSE [[eat' (Jean, gâteaux)] CAUSE [BE­

COME NOT exist' (gâteaux)]]

Je and Jean are both effectors and gâteaux "cakes" is a patient. Even

though there are two effectors, it is the effector of the superordinate

CAUSE which is the actor; the patient is the lowest ranking argument and

therefore is the undergoer. The other effector, Jean, is a core argument but

not a macrorole. The actor will be pivot, the undergoer the other direct core