1

Descriptive grammar year 2

Lecture 13: Thematic roles of

arguments; the causative and

ergative constructions

Descriptive grammar 13, year 2

2

Thematic roles

• Today’s discussion: the area of grammar

where syntax interacts with semantics.

• Cf. Lecture 4: thematic (semantic) roles of

the subject.

• Today: thematic roles of all NPs.

• The thematic roles are part of both the

syntax and semantics

they form a

semantics-syntax interface

.

Descriptive grammar 13, year 2

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Some revision

• In each clause:

– Event
– Participants

(one or more)

• Participants:

– NPs with thematic roles.

• To describe a NP, you need to:

– Describe its

structure

(head N and its

modifiers), its

function

(subject, object, etc.)

and its

thematic role

.

Descriptive grammar 13, year 2

4

Description of sentences

• (I) in terms of categories and functions

,

e.g.:

• (1)

The dog devoured my steak

.

– Functions: Subject (

the dog

), a Verb /

Predicator (

devoured

), a Direct Object (

my

steak

).

– Categories: the Subject and the DO are NPs,

the predicator is a Verb.

Descriptive grammar 13, year 2

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Description of sentences

• (II) in terms of predicates and

arguments

:

– Devour

requires the presence of other

elements to form a meaningful proposition
(assertion): who did the action and what was
devoured.

– (2)

*Devoured my steak

.

*The dog devoured

.

Descriptive grammar 13, year 2

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Predicates and arguments

• predicates

: elements that require the

specification of participants in the
proposition expressed.

– do not confuse them with Burton-Roberts’ and

Quirk’s Predicate (note the spelling).

• arguments

: the participants.

2

Descriptive grammar 13, year 2

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Predicates and arguments

• Some argument-taking predicates (the

predicates in bold type, the arguments in
italics):

– (3)

Henry

smiled

.

– (4)

The police

investigated

the allegation

.

– (5)

Sarah

gave

[Peter] [a parcel]

.

– (6)

Sue

bet

[John] [a pound] [that he would

lose the game of squash].

Descriptive grammar 13, year 2

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Predicates and arguments

• Example (3):

one-place predicate

(takes

only one argument).

• (4): a

two-place predicate

(takes two

arguments).

• (5): a

three-place predicate

(takes three

arguments).

• (6) is exceptional in English: 3 NP

arguments and one clausal argument.

Descriptive grammar 13, year 2

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Predicates and arguments

• Internal arguments:

the arguments inside

the VP (i.e. following the V).

• The

external argument

: the subject (it is

outside the VP).

• The

semantic notions

one-place

predicate, two-place predicate and three-
place predicate correspond to the

syntactic notions

intransitive verb,

monotransitive verb and ditransitive verb.

Descriptive grammar 13, year 2

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Ambiguity in terminology

• Burton-Roberts’ and Quirk’s

Predicate

:

– A

functional label

, everything in a sentence except

the Subject, i.e. the verb together with its
complements (if present) and adjuncts (if present)

– A

syntactic

use of the term “Predicate”.

• Here the term “

predicate

” is used in a

semantic

sense

.

• Do not confuse the terms

predicate

(the

semantic label) and

Predicator

(a functional /

syntactic label, referring to the verb).

Descriptive grammar 13, year 2

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Non-verbal predicates

• Not only verbs can be predicates.

– (7)

Paul’s study of art history

. (N)

– (8)

John is fond of his sister

. (Adj)

– (9)

The bird is inside the house

. (P)

• In (7) the N requires

– the specification of a subject expression: the “studier”

(

Paul

) and

– the specification of an internal argument: what is

being studied (

art history

).

– Analogous with

Paul studied art history

.

Descriptive grammar 13, year 2

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Non-verbal predicates

• In (8) the subject expression:

John

, the internal

argument:

of his sister

.

• In (9) the subject expression:

the bird

, the

internal argument:

the house

.

– They correspond to the internal arguments we find in

VPs.

– The semantic content of the verb

be

in (8-9) is

empty: the verb only serves as a carrier of the
present tense inflection.

• Remember

it is a semantic analysis, not a

syntactic one

.

3

Descriptive grammar 13, year 2

13

Thematic roles

• The exact number number of thematic

roles has not been agreed on.

• Also: no agreement on exactly which roles

should be recognized.

• We’ll discuss those thematic roles which

are widely accepted.

Descriptive grammar 13, year 2

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Thematic roles

• (10)

The speaker sat down

. [Agent]

– Agent

: the active NP containing an animate

N.

– The “doer” of the action denoted by the

predicate.

– If the sentence has more than one participant,

the one with the thematic role of the Agent will
be the subject.

Descriptive grammar 13, year 2

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Thematic roles

• (11)

The student opened the envelope

.

[Agent, Patient]

– Patient

: the participant which undergoes the

action or event denoted by the predicate.

– The NP that refers to the passive participant,

so it is often the object of the verb.

• (12)

The avalanche destroyed the cottage

.

[Causer, Patient]

– Causer

: the NP which involves not deliberate

or conscious actions.

Descriptive grammar 13, year 2

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Thematic roles

• (13)

We heard the news

.

We rather liked

the result

. [Experiencer, Stimulus]

• (14)

The news surprised us

.

The result

pleased us, rather

. [Stimulus, Experiencer]

– Experiencer

: a living entity that experiences

the action or event denoted by the predicate.

– It perceives or gets an impression of the

action or event.

– Stimulus

: something that is perceived or

causes an impression.

Descriptive grammar 13, year 2

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Thematic roles

• In (13-14) NPs carry the same thematic

roles, but are differently arranged:

– like

+ the Experiencer subject + a Stimulus

object.

– please

requires the same clause elements but

with opposite roles.

• The syntactic distribution of the roles

depends on the predicate.

Descriptive grammar 13, year 2

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Thematic roles

• (15)

They gave me some advice

. [Agent,

Recipient, Theme]

– Recipient

: a NP which is an entity that

receives something.

– Theme

:

the entity which is moved by the

action or event denoted by the predicate.

• (16)

I’ll find you a good place

. [Agent,

Beneficiary, Theme]

– Beneficiary

: the entity that benefits from the

action or event denoted by the predicate.

4

Descriptive grammar 13, year 2

19

Thematic roles

• (17)

The robber picked the lock with a

hairpin

. [Agent, Patient, Instrument]

– Instrument

: the medium by which the action

or event denoted by the predicate is carried
out (usually a with-phrase).

• (18)

I fell to the ground

. [Theme, Goal]

– Goal

: the location or entity toward which

something moves.

Descriptive grammar 13, year 2

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Thematic roles

• (19)

The portrait fell off the wall

. [Theme,

Source]

– Source

: the location or entity from which

something moves.

• (20)

Joan wrote a children’s book

. [Agent,

Affected Theme]

– Affected Theme

: the effect of the action, or

the NP which is influenced by the action.

Descriptive grammar 13, year 2

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NPs without thematic roles (non-

arguments)

• (21)

It always rains in London

.

• (22)

There were six policemen on the bus

.

– It

and

existential there

do not refer to entities in the

outside world, they are subject slot fillers.

• Do not confuse them with the pronoun

it

and the

locative there:

they do refer to entities in the

outside world:

–

(23)

I hate the number 13 bus, it is always packed

.

–

(24)

I’ll put your coffee over there

.

Descriptive grammar 13, year 2

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Other non-arguments

• (25)

Last summer, the dog greedily

devoured my steak

.

– NPs which carry only circumstantial, non-

participant information.

– In English: phrases or clauses that function as

adjuncts

are not arguments.

– Not all grammatical functions are arguments

but each argument realizes a grammatical
function.

Descriptive grammar 13, year 2

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The thematic hierarchy

• If there are more one arguments in the

sentence, which one is more likely to
become the subject?

• The

subjectivization (subjectification)

hierarchy

helps to determine subject

selection.

Descriptive grammar 13, year 2

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The subjectivization

(subjectification) hierarchy

1. Agent

, e.g. (26)

The boy broke the vase

.

(the most likely and frequent subject).

2. Instrument

, e.g. (27)

The stone broke

the vase

. (this NP can be subject only

when there is no Agent).

3. Causer

.

4. Theme

, e.g. (28)

The vase broke

.

5

Descriptive grammar 13, year 2

25

The thematic hierarchy and

reflexivization

• (29)

The worker washed himself

. [Agent, Theme]

• (30) *

The worker was washed by himself

.

– The antecedent of the reflexive pronoun: often the

subject, the reflexive: often the object.

– Passivization: the active subject NP (Agent)

a

complement of the P by, but it retains its thematic role
of the Agent in the passive equivalent.

– The active object (Theme)

the passive subject but

retains its thematic role of the Theme in the passive
equivalent.

Descriptive grammar 13, year 2

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The thematic hierarchy and

reflexivization

• (30) does not obey the subjectivization

hierarchy: two rules are violated.

– the Agent is

himself

and the Theme is

the worker

,

which is against the rules of the thematic hierarchy:

when selecting the subject, the Agent takes
priority over the Theme

.

– another rule governing reflexivization is violated:

a

reflexive pronoun cannot be higher in the
thematic hierarchy than its antecedent

.

Descriptive grammar 13, year 2

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The thematic hierarchy and

reflexivization

• (31)

The chairperson obviously liked

herself

. [Experiencer, Stimulus]

• (32)

The chairperson was obviously

pleased with herself

. [Experiencer,

Stimulus]

• (33)

*The chairperson was obviously

pleased by herself

. [Experiencer, Agent]

Descriptive grammar 13, year 2

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The thematic hierarchy and

reflexivization

• In the active (31) the reflexive pronoun is the

Stimulus

.

• In the active (32):

pleased

is an adjective (it can

be modified by very) and the reflexive is the

Stimulus

.

• (31-32) are well-formed: the reflexive is lower in

the thematic hierarchy than its antecedent.

• In the passive (33) the reflexive is the

Agent

.

• Thus the reflexive is higher in the thematic

hierarchy than its antecedent, which makes (33)
ungrammatical.

Descriptive grammar 13, year 2

29

The causative vs. ergative

alteration

• “

Causative

” = certain classes of verbs and

certain constructions which describe the action
necessary to cause another action to happen,
e.g.

allow, cause, force, get, have, help, let,

make, motivate, permit, require

, etc.

• “

Ergative

” = the verb that can be either

transitive or intransitive, and whose subject
when the V is intransitive corresponds to the
direct object of the transitive equivalent.

Descriptive grammar 13, year 2

30

The causative vs. ergative

alteration

• (34) (a)

We closed the door noiselessly

.

(b)

The door closed noiselessly

.

• (35) (a)

He grew tomatoes in his garden

.

(b)

Tomatoes grew in his garden

.

• (36) (a)

We rolled the snowball down the

slope

.

•

(b)

The snowball rolled down the

slope

.

6

Descriptive grammar 13, year 2

31

Causation

• An

Agent

directs its energy towards

something or someone (the

Affected

),

• so that it undergoes the action named by

the verb, with a consequent change of
state.

• (34a, 35a, 36a):

transitive-causative

structure

.

– E.g. interpretation of (34a): ‘we caused the

door to close’ or ‘we made it close’

Descriptive grammar 13, year 2

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An ergative alternation

• No Agent initiator is present,

• so the process is “happening” of its own accord.

• An Agent cannot be added (34b, 35b, 36b).

• When the Affected object of a transitive clause is

the same as the Affected subject of an
intransitive clause, there is an

ergative

alternation

or

ergative pair

.

– (34a-34b, 35a-35b, 36a-36b)

Descriptive grammar 13, year 2

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An ergative alternation

• Some verbs can both causative and ergative:

– correspondence with the transitive and intransitive

uses of these verbs, e.g.:

– (34) the

causative close

is monotransitive and the

ergative close

is intransitive.

– The NP

the door

is in the object (34a) and in (34b)

the

door

is the subject.

– The door

is the Theme in both (34a-b),

we

(34a) is

the Causer.

– According to the subjectivization hierarchy, the

Causer will be the subject in (34a).

Descriptive grammar 13, year 2

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Ergative systems across languages

• Ergative systems in many languages are ordinarily

characterized by morphological case marking,

– the

subject of the intransitive clause

and

the object of the

transitive clause

is marked in the same way,

– the

Agentive subject

is marked differently.

• English: marks both the subject of an intransitive clause

and that of a transitive clause as nominative,

• the object of the transitive as accusative.
• Case marking: overt only if the NPs in question are

replaced by personal pronouns:

– He grew them in his garden

.

Descriptive grammar 13, year 2

35

The ergative in English

• Verbs like

close, grow

or

roll

are NOT two

different words in (34-36 a-b):

• whether the verbs are transitive or

intransitive depends on its arguments.