Re: Theta Role Question

If you're looking for "what theta role do 'music' and 'his passion'"
have, the best answer is Theme.  Actually, "music" would be a theme,
but I have to admit I don't know whether "his passion" receives a
theta role or not.  (I think it may depend on one's theoretical
leanings.)

Usually theta-roles are assigned by verbs, but "is" does not, I
believe, assign any theta-roles.  Consider the following:

Joe is tall.
Joe is cold.  (Meaning that he feels cold, not that he is, say, a cold corpse.)

In the first, Joe is a Theme, but in the second he is an Experiencer.
This suggests that it isn't "is" that assigns theta roles, but "tall"
and "cold".  The same would go for an NP predicate such as "Joe is a
tall man"; the Themeness of Joe would come from "a tall man" rather
than "is".

So what would the theta role of "a tall man" or "his passion"?  I'm
not sure it has one.  There's nothing to give is a role: "His passion"
isn't an argument of "is" in the same way that "Mary" is an argument
of "sees" in "Joe sees Mary".  "Is his passion" IS the predicate, and
assigns theta roles, but does not itself have a theta role.

As for the question "should I mark these with 'A'-case or not?", it's
totally up to you.  Cases and roles don't need to match up perfectly,
so long as you're consistent.

-- Pat


On 7/17/06, Carsten Becker <carbeck@...> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I've got a question regarding the roles in this
> construction:
>
>  Music is his passion.
>
> How should this construction be analyzed? I would translate
> this sentence as
>
>  Tingrāng dikunang  iyaena.
>  Music.A  passion.A 3s.m.GEN
>
> Into Ayeri, although I do not feel well with marking both
> NPs as Agents. Actually, I think, there is no agent, and
> both nouns should be best left unmarked, but that seems odd
> as well.
>
> Thanks,
> Carsten
>
> --
> "Miranayam kepauarà naranoaris." (Kalvin nay Hobbes)
> Tingraena, Tyemuyang 6, 2315 ya 05:27:19 pd
>