Seminar 3 Thematic Roles / Syntactic functions 1. Frawley (1992, pp. 201 ff.

) contrasts the thematic role of Agent with that of Author : whereas the agent is the irect oer, the author is simply the ena!ler, or the in irect cause" (1992, pp. 20#). $e claims that istinguishing these roles allows us to account for the ifferences !etween (i) an (ii) !elow: %ill floate own the ri&er. 'he canoe floate own the ri&er.

(i) (ii)

From the point of &iew of thematic roles, what ifferences can you etect !etween the (u!)ect e*pressions of these sentences+ ,o you feel that a ing a new thematic role of Author to the list in the te*t is )ustifie + 2. (i) (ii) %oth of the following are possi!le sentences of -nglish. 'hey ha&e the same meaning. 'he .o&ernment faces ifficult e!ates. ,ifficult e!ates face the .o&ernment.

First analyse these sentences in terms of grammatical functions, then iscuss the thematic properties of the &er! face. /an you thin0 of any other &er!s that !eha&e li0e face+ 1. 1. 2. 1. 6. #. 7. 8. 9. 9. 10. (entences 1 2 10 !elow are all grammatical. 3 entify the theta roles for the main &er! of each sentence: 4ary is eating an apple. 5ohn is washing the ishes. 'he !a!y is rin0ing a glass of whis0y. 5ohn has ne&er met 4ary. 'he presi ent is 0issing his wife. 'he professor is writing a !oo0 on synta*. 'he new secretary pleases all the stu ents. 'he analysis lea s us to an une*pecte conclusion. :oirot smo0es a pipe. 5oan is sha&ing her legs.

;ow consi er the following e*amples. 'hey are also all grammatical. <hat pro!lems o they raise for your treatment of the e*amples 1 2 10+ 1. 'he chil ren are eating. 2. 4ary is washing. 1. 5ohn rin0s. 6. 'hese two stu ents ha&e ne&er met. #. 'he professor an his wife are 0issing. 7. 4y father writes. 8. 5oan is easy to please. 9. 'his analysis le to =uite une*pecte conclusions. 9. :oirot is smo0ing. 10. 5oan is sha&ing. 6. From the sentences a!o&e we conclu e that certain thematic role can !e implicit. 3n (a) !elow, eat has an un erstoo o!)ect, which woul correspon to the e*plicit o!)ect in (!): A 'he chil ren are eating. % 'he chil ren are eating lunch. 'his is not a general property of transiti&e &er!s, though: / 'he chil ren are e&ouring their foo . , >'he chil ren are e&ouring. /onsi er the following paire e*amples. 3n &ariant (a) there seems to !e one more argument present than in &ariant (!). 'ry to characteri?e the semantic relation !etween the two sentences. @ou are not as0e to gi&e a techincal iscussion, !ut simply to pro&i e a escription of the ifference an Aor similarity !etween the e*amples: 1 a 4ary is coo0ing inner. 1 ! ,inner is coo0ing.

2 a 4aigret opene the oor. 2 ! 'he oor opene . 1 a :oirot oes not grow articho0es. 1 ! 'he articho0es are not growing. 6 a 4aigret has arreste the criminal. 6 ! 'he criminal has !een arreste . # a 4ary is eating too much ca0e. # ! 4ary is o&ereating. 7 a :oirot was smelling the en&elope. 7 ! @our feet smell. 8 a 4aigret is washing his shirts. 8 ! 'hese shirts wash well. 9 a 'hey are closing own the cinema alrea y. 9 ! 'he new cinema is closing own alrea y. 9 a :oirot is rea ing the announcement. 9 ! :oirot is rea ing. 10 a 'he guar marche the prisoners roun the s=uare. 10 ! 'he prisoners marche roun the s=uare. #. 1. 2. 1. 6. #. 7. 8. 7. ,iscuss the assignment of thematic role an the pro!lems, if any, raise !y the following e*amples: 5ohn, 3 really on"t li0e him. <hich etecti&e will lor -msworth in&ite+ <hich !oo0 o you thin0 :oirot will rea first+ <hich assistant o you thin0 will re&eal the secrets+ 'he new assistant appears to ha&e re&eale the secrets. $o &isto 4aria. Bo &imos a 5uan.

3t is generally accepte that morphological processes may affect thematic structure. /onsi er the following e*amples: 1a 3 un erstan his position. 1! $is position is un erstan a!le. 2a 'his shirt is too wi e. 2! $e has wi ene the shirt. 1a 'hey arrest the criminal. 1! 'he criminal has !een arreste . 6a 'hey acti&ities are not regular. 6! 'hey are regulari?ing the acti&ities. #a $e rea the !oo0. #! $e rerea the !oo0.

,iscuss the impact, if any, of the affi*ation of 2a!le, Cen, Ce , Ci?e an reC on the thematic structure of the stems to which they attach. For each affi*, pro&i e # more e*amples of the affi*ation process an chec0 whether your conclusion hol s. 8. Analyse the syntactic functions of the items in the following fragments: a. A couple of hunters are out in the woo s when one of them falls to thegroun . $e oesn"t seem to !e !reathing. 'he other whips out his mo!ilephone an calls the emergency ser&ices. $e gasps out to the operator: D4yfrien is ea E <hat can 3 o+F 'he operator, in a calm soothing &oice says:D5ust ta0e it easy. First, let"s ma0e sure he"s ea .F 'here is silence, then ashot is hear . 'he guy"s &oice comes !ac0 on the line. $e says DGH, now what+F (Guardian, .2, 20.12.2001, p. 6, col. 7I D'he worl "s funniest )o0e+F) !. <hen he was name chief !y 4ayor 5ames H. $ahn, %ratton tol 'he 'imes that he wante to esta!lish close ties with prominent lea ers in the city"s minority communities. 3n oing so, he sai , he woul !e !etter a!le to 0eep local lea ers informe of police action an re uce the li0elihoo of communities De*plo ing in anger.F (Los Angeles Times, 27.11.2002, p. %10, col. #) c. 4ore than in any recent presi ential election, the critical economic issue this year !oils own to whether mi leCincome people thin0 they are !eing s=uee?e . :resi ent %ush passionately argues they are not. (A apte from New York Times, 1.9.2006, section 1, col. 2)