Thematic Relation (definition)
Semantically, every clause contains a verb which, in combination with the nouns present in the clause, forms a notion of an event or a state. Thematic roles classify the semantic relationships between a verb and the nouns in its clause.
For instance, the notion of kissing requires an agent and a patient (sometimes called a theme) to make a complete semantic event. These thematic roles are expressed through nouns, so we may say that in (1) Smith takes the agent thematic role, and Jones takes the patient (or theme) thematic role.
- 1) Smith kissed Jones.
Smith takes the agent role because he or she is the one who does the kissing. Jones takes the patient thematic role because he or she is the one being kissed.
Linguists disagree on what an exhaustive inventory of thematic roles would consist of. However, the following are widely accepted (adapted from Carnie 2006):
- • Agents do or precipitate the action
- • Patients (or themes) are recipients of the action
- • Experiencers feel or perceive an event
- • Themes are moved, experienced or perceived
- • Goals are entities toward which movement occurs
- • Sources are entities from which movement occurs
- • Locations are the places in which events occur
- • Instruments are used to perform an action
- • Beneficiaries are those for whom an event takes place
Note that many of these thematic roles correlate with traditional case distinctions. Thematic roles are considered purely semantic classes, and one syntactic argument may bear more than one thematic role. But clearly thematic roles do have an effect on syntax; in some generative grammars this interface with syntactic structure is handled through theta roles.
