The volume is a collection of papers which apply Role & Reference Grammar (RRG) to African
languages. RRG is a functional theory of syntax which has been developed on the basis of two
leading questions: First how would a syntactic theory look like which starts from 'exotic'
languages rather than English? Second how can the interaction between syntax semantics and
pragmatics in different grammatical systems best modelled and explained? Although RRG took
linguistic diversity serious from its very beginning African languages have been
underrepresented in the development of the theory. Given the sheer number African languages
deserve a wider coverage in a syntactic theory which takes linguistic diversity seriously. The
volume is intended to fill this gap and comprises a selection of papers which investigate
different aspects related to the syntax-semantics-pragmatics interface of different African
languages. This includes: argument doubling and dislocation in iziZulu complex referential
phrases in G k y serial verb constructions in Igbo locative complements in Hausa and Zarma
Chiine and focus constructions in Emai. The papers will extent the current RRG approach to new
languages and phenomena.
