CHAPTER 6- Sentence semantics 2: Participants

CHAPTER 6- Sentence semantics 2: Participants

1. Thematic roles

   • AGENT: the initiator of some action, capable of acting with volition.
     • ACTOR: it expresses the participant which performs, affects, instigates, or controls the situation denoted by the predicate.
   • PACIENT: the entity undergoing the effect of some action, often undergoing some change in state.
   • THEME: the entity which is moved by an action, or whose location is described
   • EXPERIENCER: the entity which is aware of the action or state described by the predicate but which is not in control of the action or state.
   • BENEFICIARY: the entity for whose benefit the action was perfomed
   • INSTRUMENT: the means by which an action is performed or something comes about
   • LOCATION: the place in which something is situated or takes place.
   • SOURCE: the entity from which something moves, either literally or metaphorically.
   • GOAL: the entity towards which something moves, either literally or metaphorically.
     • RECIPIENT: is a type of GOAL involved in actions describing changes of possession.

2. THETA- CRITERION: states that there must be a one- to- one correspondence between noun phrases and thematic roles.

3. THEMATIC TIER: describes spatial relations (THEME, GOAL, SOURCE, LOCATION).

4. ACTION TIER: describes ACTOR- PATIENT- type relations:

   • ACTOR, AGENT, EXPERIENCER, PATIENT, BENEFICIARY, INSTRUMENT

5. UNIVERSAL SUBJECT HIERARCHY: AGENT- RECIPIENT- BENEFICIARY- THEME/PACIENT- INSTRUMENT- LOCATION.

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