Semantic roles

(0) a. The dog bit the man.b. The man bit the dog.

Thematic (or θ-roles) are semantic rolesthat constituents play

agent theme

agent theme

Thematic (or θ-roles) are semantic rolesthat constituents play

A smattering of θ-roles

(1) a. Mary gave the book to Johnb. Mary gave John the book

themegoal

θ-roles can stay constantwhile subcat frames vary

(1) a. Mary gave the book to Johnb. Mary gave John the book

themegoal

goaltheme

θ-roles can stay constantwhile subcat frames vary

(1) a. Mary gave the book to Johnb. Mary gave John the book

(2) Jenna’s sister is in St. Tropez

location

Other categories beyond V haveθ-role-assigning powers

(3) The spinmeisters are crafty

theme

Theta-criterion:Each obligatory θ-role selected by a predicate must be assigned to some referential expression

(4) a. Julie telephoned the donors.b. ∗ Telephoned the donors.

?

agent

Theta-assignment at deep structure:this question is about the THEME of the taking

CP

NP

which boy

C′

C+Q

will

IP

NP

you

I′

I+Pst

twill

VP

V′

V

take

VP

NP

twh

V′

V

t take

PPto

to the dance

theme

goal

Practice

Human sentence understandingas an algorithm

1.Use the grammar to parse the sentence; determine a syntactic tree

2.Use the tree from step 1 to work out θ-role assignments

3.Return the θ-role assignments (throw away tree)

Pronoun interpretations

spelled with-self

not

Co-indexation notates same-reference

(5) a. Johni hurt himselfib. ∗ Johni hurt himi

“John hurt John”c. Johni hurt himj

“John hurt some other guy”i≠j

Some (sentence,reference) pairingsare unacceptable

(6) a. Clairei knew that Alexisj trusted heri,∗jb. Clairei knew that Alexisj trusted herself∗i,j

Some (sentence,reference) pairingsare unacceptable

(7) a. [John’s sister]i did enjoy herselfib. ∗ [John’s]j sister did enjoy himselfj

Principle A: Only NP1 (not NP2) is in the right configuration to be coindexed with the reflexive.

IP

NP1

NP2

John’s

N′

N

sister

I′

I+Pst

did

VP

V′

V

enjoy

NP

herself∗himself

A relationship between tree nodes

C-commandNode A c-commands node B if A’s sister contains B

Tanya Reinhart RIP

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/23/world/middleeast/23reinhart.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/23/world/middleeast/23reinhart.html

IP

NP1

NP2

John’s

N′

N

sister

I′

I+Pst

did

VP

V′

V

enjoy

NP

herself∗himself

A

B

containment

A=NP1 c-commands B

IP

NP1

NP2

John’s

N′

N

sister

I′

I+Pst

did

VP

V′

V

enjoy

NP

herself∗himself

A

B

A’s sistercontainm

ent

A=NP1 c-commands B

IP

NP1

NP2

John’s

N′

N

sister

I′

I+Pst

did

VP

V′

V

enjoy

NP

herself∗himself

A

B

A’s sister

A’s sister Nʹ fails to contain B⇒ NP2 does not c-command “himself”

Principle AA reflexive must have ac-commanding antecedent in its binding domain

(8) a. Johnj should promote [Iron Maiden]ib. ∗ Johnj should promote himselfi

(9) a. Johnj should promote himselfjb. ∗ Himselfj should promote Johnj

Principle BA pronominal must not have ac-commanding antecedent in its binding domain

(10) a. Johnj should promote [Iron Maiden]ib. Johnj should promote themic. ∗ Johnj should promote himjd. Hej should promote Johnj

Licensed by Principle BIP

NP1

NP2j

John’s

N′

N

sister

I′

I+Pst

did

VP

V′

V

enjoy

NPj

him“him” not c-commanded by coindexed antecedent

Homework

In preparation for Thursday, read the Larson chapter posted on the class website.

Be able to answer the question “What are truth conditions?”