THETA THEORY

https://youtu.be/06MpE22sIPI

https://youtu.be/h9dqzOK6JjA

https://youtu.be/Z9JaClNzR-E

SAY WHY THESE SENTENCES ARE INCORRECT:

 *The rubbish emptied into the bin the man

S + To empty + sth
The man emptied the rubbish into the bin

ACTOR THEME

 *For her mother a blouse bought Susan

Susan bought a blouse for her mother

ACTOR THEME BENEFICIARY

S+ BUY+ STH+ (for)sb/

S + buy + sth+ for sb

Susan bought a blouse for her mother

SOME IDEAS FROM THE READING MATERIAL TO DISCUSS:

The relationship between thematic roles and grammatical relations ( syntax-semantics)

Bob bent the hose vs Bob moved the hose to the flower pot vs Bob watered the
flowers with a hose

According to the number of obligatory constituents that are required by a predicate,

the predicate will be put into a type or class, this type has a special name VALENCY.
 The valency of a predicate is the number of arguments or obligatory elements that a
predicate selects or requires as stated in the lexicon.

Major lexical categories are predicates.

VERBS, NOUNS, ADJECTIVES, PREPOSITIONS

Sentences vs propositions

ACTION TIER AGENT PATIENT /ACTOR X

THEMATIC TIER SOURCE PATH GOAL/LOCATIVE THEME

Let´s practise:

I like to stay home in the evenings. VALENCY 2

EXP THEME

ACTION TIER X X

THEMATIC TIER

We arrived home. VALENCY 2

ACTOR X

THEME GOAL

He left home. They went back HOME

THEME GOAL THEME GOAL

He was innocent of the crime VALENCY 2 (He didn´t commit the crime)
THEME THEME BY DEFAULT

VALENCY 1 She was smiling because she knew that they wouldn´t get the job.

EA V2 EA IA

ACTOR PLACE THEME

John is the owner of the house ? to be checked in the reading material, Is it a deverbal noun or
not???? Check!!!!

He owns a house ACTION TIER X X? to be checked in the reading material

THEMATIC TIER ?

HOMEWORK

1) “Catherine cackled out loud and the inspector gave them their tickets. Then the man leant
over the stroller and addressed the contents. Minutes later, he stopped abruptly, as if he´d
seen a bomb inside the pram. He realized there was no baby in the pram. He started shouting
for help. Two or three policemen approached him and held Catherine tight not allowing her to
escape. The policemen checked the pram and found a box which looked suspicious there. They
put the box into a black bag and proceeded to take Catherine to the police-station”