Thematic roles describe the semantic relationships between verbs and their arguments. Violating these semantic requirements leads to semantic anomalies rather than ungrammaticality e.g. *The small train loves chocolate.
Thematic Roles for NP
- Agent: the entity that intentionally performs an action. (e.g.,
WinnieinWinnie fought the bear.) - Experiencer: the entity that experiences a psychological state. (e.g.,
CharlesinCharles felt sad about his Discovery.) - Theme: the entity affected by an action. (e.g.,
the boulderinI push the boulder with all my might.) - Benefactive: the entity that benefits from an action. (e.g.,
usinHe wiped the tables clean for us.) - Source: the entity from which something is moved by performing an action. (e.g.,
SpaininI traveled from Spain to Italy.) - Goal: the entity toward which an action is directed. (e.g.,
ItalyinI traveled from Spain to Italy.) - Instrument: the object in which the action is completed with. (e.g.
an axeinI slashed the body up with an axe.)
Thematic Grids
A thematic grid lists these thematic roles in order for a specific verb context.
- Dive:
<Agent>(e.g., The puppy dove)- Devour:
<Agent, Theme>(e.g., A big monster devoured the kid)- Give:
<Agent, Theme, Goal>(e.g., Susie gave a bucket to Charlie)- Borrow:
<Agent, Theme, Source>e.g., My dad borrowed $10,000 from me.