Advances in Role and Reference Grammar

280 JULIA A. JOLLY

In the RRG analysis, this kind of restricted oblique marking could be hand­
led by a lexical rule referring to the semantic roles specified in the LS of a
verb. However, it is possible that if the LS for an acceptable split-conjunct
sentence, such as (12) were precisely specified, the restrictions on usage
could be predicted by the LSs of verbs, without resorting to a lexical rule
(cf. section 2.6). To illustrate the multiple functions of with, Foley & Van
Valin (87) cite sentence (15), embodying a theme which Φ U; an effector
which φ A; and an agent which Φ A.
(15) Bill loaded the truck with cartons with a forklift with John.
In terms of the Actor/Undergoer [A/U] hierarchy, with may be said to mark
arguments which would be expected to occur as A or U, but which do not.
Given the syntactic restrictions on the occurrence of with described above,
these functions can theoretically be derived from the LS of the sentence,
specified by FVV (89) as in (16).
(16) [[DO (Bill/John, [do'(BihVJohn)])] CAUSE [do' (forklift)]]
CAUSE [BECOME be-at' (truck, cartons)]
The RRG analysis of prepositional roles is thus rather different from
that of Fillmore and others. What is striking about this approach is the clas­
sification of prepositions by their decomposed LSs, rather than their
labeled functions. This gives us a system of specification not based on
native-speaker intuitions of functional roles but independently motivated
by the Dowty entailment tests for the verb classes. The functions are
assumed to be universals in various mixes; the syntactically defined con­
straints on the occurrence of particular prepositions in particular roles will
be language-specific; the LS of the clause reveals the functional roles of
clause participants, given the syntactic restrictions on their occurrence.

2. Extending the RRG analysis

2.1 The problem revisited

In discussing the formulation of lexical representations, Kisala (1985:102)

notes:

Lexical entries provide a bridge between meaning (a predicate and its log­

ical or semantic arguments) and structure (a verb and its syntactic argu-