Abstract
Abstract This paper attempts to extend Van Valin's (1991) Role and Reference Grammar (RRG) analysis of Icelandic case marking and grammatical relations to (Modern) German and Old English (OE). Although the analysis works well for German, problems arise with OE. OE lacks dual passives of (NOM‐DAT‐ACC) verbs: this is unexpected in Van Valin's framework. It is suggested that the solution lies in exploiting the two passive rules in RRG; this means that part of Van Valin's analysis of Icelandic must be revised, but results in a unified analysis for all three languages. The analysis is then extended to two Bantu languages, to Dyirbal, and to Balinese. It is argued that the tools of RRG permit an internally consistent analysis for all the languages considered. The analysis also offers a solution to the vexed question of the ergative status of at least one Austronesian language.
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