POSSESSEE/POSSESSED is a subset of POSSESSOR which is why it has been included but not given its own role. POSSESSEE/POSSESSED: what is possessed Shelly's cats GOAL: a location/being that is the endpoint Moses gave Josh a toothbrushīENEFICIARY: a beneficiary Susie made cookies for Sarah LOCATION: a location Marianne leaped through the field This made him cryĪGENT: a person or entity which intentionally is causing or doing something Joshua intentionally hit himĮXPERIENCER: a sentient being inside of, or acquiring, a psychological state Sam hates cats/Josh noticed Alice Below is an example for each theta role (SKS, 2015):ĬAUSE: a cause The dog bit the child. It is important to understand that, according to the Theta Criterion, every argument bears one and only one theta role (Chomsky, 1965). S-Selection is an important addition to any lexical entry in order to make them easier to interpret (SKS, 2015). This is what is called s-selection, a shortening of semantic selection. Each term indicates the relationship between the verb, predicate, and one of its arguments. There are eight theta roles: AGENT, THEME, CAUSE, POSSESSOR, LOCATION, GOAL, EXPERIENCER, and BENEFICIARY. Theta roles identify the meaning relation between the constituent and the selected predicate (SKS, 2015). In this way, subcategorization is an important piece of information to include in any lexical entry. For example, the verb ask from above subcategorizes for a DP AGENT and CP THEME, otherwise known as a subject and direct object, respectively. It is necessary to understand the fundamentals of argument structure to understand the idea of subcategorization because subcategorization, as noted above, refers to the sub-categories a verb (or other semantic role) requires (Kroger, 2005). Selection Restriction: Argument Selection To illustrate this, the sentence The adults asked if the cats would pee on the sofa, has been broken down into its semantic roles and argument selections below. These are arguments such as AGENT, PATIENT, EXPERIENCER, THEME, RECIPIENT, and STIMULUS. When every predicate, otherwise known as a verb, is used, it selects a specific set of arguments that need to be fulfilled to create a well-formed sentence (Kroger, 2005). The notion of subcategorization is similar to the notion of valency, although the two concepts (subcategorization and valency) stem from different traditions in the study of syntax and grammar.Īrgument structure is the list of selected arguments associated with a lexical category, such as a verb (SKS, 2015). For example, the word "walk" as in "X walks home" requires the noun-phrase X to be animate. In linguistics, subcategorization denotes the ability/necessity for lexical items (usually verbs) to require/allow the presence and types of the syntactic arguments with which they co-occur.
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