Advances in Role and Reference Grammar

A SYNOPSIS OF ROLE AND REFERENCE GRAMMAR 89

three projections of the clause. In the following two sections, the role of
focus structure in determining the linear sequence of elements in a sentence
will be explored, and then the interaction of focus structure with the linking
algorithm in (63) in the specification of WH-questions like those in (67) will
be investigated.

5.4.1 Focus structure and linearization

Figure 16 summarizes the linking of arguments in a LS to their morphosyn-

tactic functions in a clause, but there is a crucial further step in the realiza­

tion process: the linearization of the elements in the sentence. In all lan­

guages the order of operators is largely fixed (see section 1.3), with the

major variation being the kind found in subject-finite auxiliary inversion in

English and the inversion in languages like Icelandic which exhibit a V/2

constraint (see section 1.5). In many languages the order of predicates,

arguments and their modifiers is rigidly determined, with little room for

variation. English is a well-known example of this type of language, and

focus structure plays only a minor role in fixing the order of words. In this

section two languages in which focus structure has a major influence on

word order will be discussed, Russian and Italian.

5.4.1.1 Russian

Russian is often cited as an example of a language with "free word order",

where this term is normally understood to mean that variation in the order

of arguments and the predicate does not affect the interpretation of the syn­

tactic functions and semantic roles of the arguments. From the perspective

of information distribution, however, Russian ordering is much less free: in

statements the order topic-focus is strongly adhered to, while in questions

the focus is normally in clause-initial position,^50 according to Comrie (1979,

1984). He gives the following examples of questions and answers to illus­

trate these ordering constraints. (The AFD is underlined.)

(78) a. Q: Kto zasciscajet Viktor-a?

Focus TOPIC

WIIO(NOM) defends Victor-Ace

"Who defends Victor?"