Advances in Role and Reference Grammar

22 ROBERT D. VAN VALIN, JR.

from this language. In the RRG analysis, the form in Figure 10 is posited as

the unmarked form for a complex derived nominal. Second, there is consid­

erable evidence within English that the NP in this position is not analogous

to a subject in a clause. Nunes (this volume) argues that the preposed pos­

sessor position is actually functionally similar to the LDP position in a

clause. One piece of evidence for this comes from the fact that non-argu­

ments which cannot be subject in a clause can occur in the preposed posses­

sor position, e.g. Yesterday's destruction of the city by a hurricane. This

position will be labelled the detached position [DP] in the NP, and it plays

a role in both projections in English at least, as it also marks the definite-

ness of the NP. In other languages, e.g. Lakhota and Swahili, an article and

a possessor phrase may both occur. A simplified example of an English NP

with a DP is given in Figure 11.

2. Information structure

2.1 General considerations

The issue of the distribution of information in clauses and sentences was not

addressed in FVV, and yet it is one of the most important questions for lin­

guists studying the interplay of form and function in language. Research on

this topic goes back at least to the work of Prague School linguists such as

Mathesius in the 1920's, and more recent work in this area has included