THEORY
A. Definition
Thematic
roles, also known as Semantic roles are one of the oldest classes of
constructs in linguistic theory. They are also referred to as "case
frames" (Fillmore 1968) or "theta-grids"(Stowell 1981). Thematic
roles are used to indicate the role played by each entity in a sentence and are
ranging from very specific to very general. Some of the characteristics that
theories of thematic roles strive for, in order to fulfill their function are
the following, according to Dowty:
a.
Completeness: Every argument of every verb is assigned some thematic
role or other.
b.
Uniqueness: Every argument of every verb is assigned only one thematic
role.
c.
Distinctness: Every argument of every verb is distinguished from the
other arguments by the role it is assigned. Two levels can be distinguished: strong distinctness, if Uniqueness
also holds, and weak distinctness,
if it does not. In this last case, each argument is assigned a different set of
roles from other arguments of the same verb.
d.
Independence: Each role is given a consistent semantic definition that
applies to all verbs and all situations. Thus, role definitions do not depend
on the meaning of the particular verb or on the other thematic roles it
assigns.
B. Examples of Thematic Roles
Here is a list of the major thematic
relations.
i.
Agent
Agent is one who performs some
actions. Agent is a label representing the role of an agent.
Example:
Joe played well and won the price.
Joe played well and won the price.
Here, Joe
is the person who did playing.
ii.
Patient
Patient is the entity undergoing
the effect of some action, often undergoing some chance in state.
Example:
The sun melted the ice.
Here, the ice receives the effect
of the sun.
iii.
Theme
Theme is the entity
that is moved by the action or event denoted by the predicate or whose location
is described.
Example:
Roberto passed the
ball wide.
The
book
is in the library.
iv.
Experiencer
Experiencer is one who experienced.
Example:
Johan felt very painful when heard
of the sudden demise of his friend.
Here, Johan experienced the pain so he is the experiencer.
Here, Johan experienced the pain so he is the experiencer.
v.
Beneficiary
Beneficiary is the entity for whose
benefit the action was performed.
Example:
I prayed early in the morning for Susan.
Here Susan
is the beneficiary.
vi.
Instrument
Instrument is the means by which an
action is performed.
Example:
Tom broke the wooden box with the hammer.
Here hammer
is the instrument used to break the wooden box
vii.
Location
Location is the place which
something is situated or takes place.
Example:
Steve was swimming in the river.
Needless to say river
is the location.
viii.
Goal
Goal is the entity
towards which something moves.
Example:
Rorra told the Joke to his friends.
Here, to his friends is
the goal.
ix.
Source
Source is the entity from which
something moves.
Example:
We got the idea from the game.
Here, from the game is source.
ANALYSIS
A.
Analysis Thematic Roles in Narrative
text
The Story of Pinocchio
Once
upon a time, Gepetto, an old woodsman, living in the great Italian
pine forest, was
Agent & Experiencer Location
lonely.
He always dreamed about having a son.
Agent
Each
day, he went cutting woods for the town’s people. One day,
an idea illuminated
Agent Patient Beneficiary
Agent
his
mind, the idea of crafting a puppet,
which he will call it Pinocchio. He crafted that puppet
Patient Agent Patient
Agent Patient
and
during the night, the puppet becomes alive!
Agent
One
year of happiness and thriller passed, on a Sunday morning, Gepetto
told Pinocchio:
Agent Agent
Patient
‘’It’s
my birthday soon, my little son! I hope you didn’t forget it!’’
Theme Agent Agent&Patient Patient
‘’Euh,
sure, I didn’t!’’
Agent
Pinocchio felt awkward. He didn’t
thought about that. Gepetto’s birthday was coming in only
Experiencer Agent Patient Theme
three
days, and he hadn’t even a present.
Agent Patient
After
a long night of reflecting, Pinocchio finally decided to offer a
homemade chocolate
Agent Patient
cake to him as a present.
Beneficiary Instrument
When
the sun rose, Pinocchio was already ready to go outside
find the ingredients. The main
Agent Agent Location Patient Theme
problem was he didn’t even known the
in and the recipe.
Experiencer Patient
So after school, he decided to go ask someone for
the ingredients to bake a cake.
Agent Patient Goal Patient
During
his walk, Pinocchio, the wooden puppet, met the town’s sorcerer.
Agent Patient
‘’Hey, little boy, do you need some help for your chocolate cake?’’
Agent Patient Goal
‘’Hum…You can help me?’’, asked Pinocchio.
Agent Patient Agent
‘’Sure, I can. Follow me!’’
Agent Patient
After walking few minutes so, Pinocchio saw a big, big, big candy
house. They entered
Experiencer Patient Agent
together
and Pinocchio got caught by a big cage.
Agent Instrument
‘’Mouahahaha!!! I finally caught you! You’ll be mine, you’re
gonna work for me!’’,
Agent Patient Agent Agent Beneficiary
said
the evil sorcerer.
Agent
Pinocchio was so scared. When the guards came and took him
out of the cage, he
Agent Agent Patient
Location Agent
immediately
ran away very fast and he succeeded to escape.
Agent
At
the same time, the evil sorcerer, calling all his troops with
him, ran after him and he took
Agent Patient Patient Agent
out
his magic wand. The evil devil changed the little wooden
puppet into a chocolate cake!
Patient Agnet Patient Goal
When
he came back home, he told the entire story to his
father and they went to find
Agent Agent Patient Goal Agent
the
god fairy.
Patient
After
a long trip, they finally find the god fairy and they got the
magical potion for Pinocchio.
Agent Pateint
Agent Patient Beneficiary
***
From
the chart below, we know that Agent has the largest amount of number. The
second place is Patient, and then the Theme. Experiencer is in the fourth place and followed by
Beneficiary. The next are Instrument, Location and Goal. Source which is in the
last place has none.
CONCLUSION
The
analysis here provides better understanding of the narrative text. Every
narrative text has content that not everyone can understand it easily.
Understanding syntactic aspects is not really helpful to comprehend the meaning
of the whole text. However, with thematic roles, we can absorb the content in
narrative text well because each thematic role has its function and it’s very
helpful for reader to comprehend the text well.
References
Saeed,
John I. 2003. Semantics. UK:
Blackwell Publishing
thx kak,,,
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