Y
YY



 
Y 

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Y
 Y
  Y

Y
 

 is the module that deals with the
^
 requirements of verbs. It incorporates a
set of participant roles, called Y  
.
Their distribution in sentence structure is
mediated chiefly by the   
and the Y  
ð
     

  



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 Y
 Y 

A Theta Role represents the

semantic relationship of
arguments with the predicate .

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 Y
 


Agent It is the initiator or the doer of the action. §Ú
 r

Also it should be alive and able to take 
=
conscious decisions; it is mostly subject of
a clause
Ô
eriencer It is the argument that feels or
erceives §h   =
events; it might also be e
eriencing some

sychological state.
Yheme/Pati It is an entity that undergoes actions, is §h 
 V
ent moved, e
erienced, or
erceived; it is also 
=
called §
atient
ÿoal Yhe entity towards which something §Ú   V
moves. 


=
Oeci
ient It occurs only with verbs denoting change |§`V
  
of
ossession. r

=ë
Úource It is the unit from which the action takes §


 r



lace   =ë
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 Y
 


 It is the
lace in which the action §£V 

°
occurs or in which a theme is  
located.  =ë
£ It is a means by which something §h 
 

comes about. 0V =ë
[ It is the one who is given some hel
§  
or to whose best something ha

ens r 
 r
 
0r=ë
` It is the one who has or owns §h   
something. 
=ë
`
 It is someone or something that is §h  

erceived. r

=ë

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 Y Y  !
Y Y 
Y 
  
  operates at D-structure
through the assignment of ș-roles to
arguments. This theory is based on
two   


, namely
the Theta-Criterion and the
Projection Principle.

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 Y Y  
Y Y 
" R
Ô
 
   
     
 
      
 
ð
 ð 

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#$

Ô ample 1R look back the table

ð%&' ( )(
 [h ‰ is assigned the Theta- role
§ 
- [
 ‰ is assigned the ș-role
§  .
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#$

#$ *
ð)%Y +
'   $
)
 (
[ V
  V



     m


  
 

 
 


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Y 
  
 
" 
O  



 

  

  
 

 
 
  !
"#$%#&

'     
 



 

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 " 
According to the generalized
Projection Principle, a verb that takes
an agent subject cannot take a theme
or a goal subject, while verbs that
have a non-thematic subject cannot
be inserted in a structure where its
subject has received a ș-role.
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#$

ð* John murdered Mary.

ð*) It seems to be a day of troubles
- In ð
a , §h  is assigned the ș-role
  and §
 cannot take a
 subject
- In ð
b , the verb §seem has a non-
thematic subject and therefore cannot
take a thematic subject.
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ð
 

 the number of
grammatical elements that a word,
especially a verb, combines with in a
sentence

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  #
All the words and phrases used in a
particular language or subject; all the
words and phrases used and known
by a particular person or group of
people.

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