Advances in Role and Reference Grammar

(^444) LINDA SCHWARTZ
verbal element. In all of the languages, the location in concrete locative
expressions is expressed with an overt locative marker, while this is not true
of attributives and identificational in any of the languages. Furthermore, all
of the languages considered here allow locative subjects for verbs of per­
ception and cognition.
The alternative conceptualization of attributive and identificational
constructions as ambiguous theme/location constructions is compatible with
their cross-linguistic patterning with respect to the objective/subjective dis­
tinction, under a certain set of assumptions about the organization of the
syntax-semantics mapping: the basic assumptions of Role and Reference
Grammar [RRG]. RRG uses a two-tier structure of semantic roles: the
thematic roles such as agent, locative and theme, which are derived from
the lexical semantics of predicates, and the macroroles actor and under­
goer, which mediate between thematic roles and grammatical relations,
abbreviated as "U" and "A" in the examples. These are organized in the
hierarchy given in (28).
(28) ACTOR-UNDERGOER HIERARCHY (Foley & Van Valin
1984:59)
Agent - Effector - Locative - Theme - Patient
ACTOR >
< UNDERGOER
In this hierarchy, agent is considered to be the primary choice for the mac­
rorole actor, while patient is the primary choice for the macrorole under­
goer with the markedness of the macrorole choice increasing with its dis­
tance from the primary choice. It can be seen here, then, that universally,
location is considered a marked choice for undergoer relative to theme or
patient. What I propose, then, is that the alternative schematizations of the
subject of attributives and identificationals as theme or location would
place them between the theme and location poles on the continuum rep­
resented in (28). In the discussion to follow, I will refer to their indetermi­
nate status on the hierarchy as theme/location. Under a macrorole analysis
of syntactically transitive predicates, by definition both an actor and an
undergoer will be identified; in the case of syntactically intransitive predi­
cates, by definition a single macrorole will be identified: either actor or
undergoer. In the case of syntactic intransitives, choice of an actor mac­
rorole depends on the presence of an activity predicate in the lexical seman­
tics of the verb; choice of an undergoer macrorole follows from the lack of