The Theta System

Argument Structure at the Interface

Edited by Martin Everaert, Marijana Marelj, and Tal Siloni

Oxford Studies in Theoretical Linguistics

Tackles some of the core issues of current linguistic theory
Sheds light on old empirical puzzles and brings forth new empirical data
Presents the basic tool kit of the Theta System, as well as its latest modifications, domain extensions and criticism, all at one place

The Theta System

Argument Structure at the Interface

Edited by Martin Everaert, Marijana Marelj, and Tal Siloni

Oxford Studies in Theoretical Linguistics

Description

Before she died in 2007, Tanya Reinhart had gone a long way towards developing the Theta System, a theory in which formal features defining the thematic relations of verbs are encoded in the lexicon, enabling an interface between the lexical component and the computational system/syntax, directly, and the Inference system, indirectly.

This book considers the recent results and evaluations of Tanya Reinhart's research in both theoretical and experimental domains. After a comprehensive presentation of the framework by the editors, distinguished linguists from all over the world examine the underpinning of the Theta System, compare the framework to alternative approaches, and consider its implications for the architecture of grammar. In addition, they consider and exemplify the applications of the system and offer improvements and extensions.

The book is an important contribution to linguistic research. It engages in the key dialogue between competing lexicalist and syntactic approaches to lexico-semantic problems and does so in the context of an impressive array of new empirical data ranging from Germanic, Romance, and Slavic to Ugro-Finnish, and Semitic languages.

The Theta System

Argument Structure at the Interface

Edited by Martin Everaert, Marijana Marelj, and Tal Siloni

Oxford Studies in Theoretical Linguistics

1. Introduction: The Theta System
2. The Linguistic Expression of Causation, Ad Neeleman and Hans van de Koot
3. The Content of Semantic Roles: Predicate-argument structure in language and cognition, Martin Haiden
4. Combine, Edwin Williams
5. In the Event of a Nominal, Hagit Borer
6. Lexicon Uniformity and the Causative Alternation, Malka Rappaport Hovav and Beth Levin
7. In Defense of the Non-causative Analysis of Anticausatives, Gyorgy Rakosi
8. Hidden Entries: A psycholinguistic study of derivational gaps, Julie Fadlon
9. To Have the Empty Theta-role, Peter Ackema and Marijana Narelj
10. Emission Verbs, Joseph Potashink
11. Verbal Passives in English and Hebrew: A comparative study, Aya Meltzer-Asscher
12. An Event Semantics for the Theta System, Alexis Dimitriadis
13. Children Acquire Unaccusative and A-movement Very Early on, Joao Costa and Na'ama Friedmann

The Theta System

Argument Structure at the Interface

Edited by Martin Everaert, Marijana Marelj, and Tal Siloni

Oxford Studies in Theoretical Linguistics

Author Information

Martin Everaert is Professor of Linguistics at Utrecht University and Director of the Utrecht Institute of Linguistics OTS. He works primarily on the syntax-semantics interface (anaphora: reflexives, reciprocals) and the lexicon-syntax interface (idioms/collocations, and argument structure).

Marijana Marelj is an Assistant Professor of Linguistics at Utrecht University. She completed her thesis, entitled Middles and Argument Structure across Languages under the supervision of Tanya Reinhart and Eric Reuland. Her research interests include the Architecture of grammar, properties of the computational system/syntactic theory, Interfaces (lexicon-syntax interface and syntax-semantics interface), and Slavic, Germanic, and Romance languages.

Tal Siloni is an Associate Professor of Linguistics at Tel Aviv University and the chair of the department. Her major areas of research are syntactic theory and comparative syntax with particular reference to Semitic and Romance languages, the lexicon-syntax interface, argument structure, idioms, and nominalization.

Contributors:

Martin Everaert, Utrecht Institute of Linguistics, OTS
Marijana Marelj, Utrecht University
Tal Siloni, Tel Aviv University
Peter Ackema, University of Edinburgh
Hagit Borer, University of Southern California
João Costa, Universidade Nova de Lisboa
Alexis Dimitriadis, Utrecht Institute of Linguistics OTS
Julie Fadlon, Tel-Aviv University
Na'ama Friedmann, Tel-Aviv University
Martin Haiden, University of Tours
Hans van de Koot, University College London
Beth Levin, Stanford University
Aya Meltzer-Asscher, Northwestern University
Ad Neeleman, University College London
Joseph Potashnik, Tel-Aviv University
György Rákosi, University of Debrecen
Malka Rappaport Hovav, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Edwin Williams, Princeton University

The Theta System

Argument Structure at the Interface

Edited by Martin Everaert, Marijana Marelj, and Tal Siloni

Oxford Studies in Theoretical Linguistics

Reviews and Awards

"Through analyses centered on Reinhart's ThS, the authors contributing to this volume give us a comprehensive glance into the area of lexical semantics and its interface with syntax, because they not only focus on Reinhart's system but also situate it in relation to other influential theories dealing with this area of grammar... The book will be a valuable and interesting read for any scholar or advanced student interested in lexical semantics and in the relation between structure and meaning in general." --LinguistList