ISSN: 2287 – 80X1
Volume 12, Number 2, 2024
Innovative Journal of Social Science, Arts and Management
SEMANTIC ROLES
Helen Ugbogbo
General Studies Unit, Edo State Polytechnic, Usen, Edo State, Nigeria
Email:ugbogbohelen@gmail
ABSTRACT
The paper highlights the semantic roles of subject, predicate, verbs in semantic analysis. It talks
about sentence rearrangement and effects on the meaning of the sentence in various roles as agent,
patient, experience, location, or locative and highlights the importance of some phrases in the
sentences as to whether or not the sentences can be meaningful in sentence rearrangement
excluding the phrases as well as the uniqueness of meaning, all these are explored in view of finding
generalized roles to guild the practice in semantic analysis.
Keywords: Semantic roles, Characteristics, Criticism, Concepts
INTRODUCTION
The concept of semantics is one that is complex in the sense that it is not easy to define. In an
attempt to account for the meaning of meaning, Ogden and Richards in their book titled "The
meaning of meaning" published in 1923 presented twenty-two different definition of meaning.
Meaning is a phenomenon that can be influenced by different variables. The concept of semantics
is one that is complex in the sense that it is not easy to define. For example, C.K. Ogden and I.A.
Richards enumerate twenty-two definitions of meaning in their work (186-187). And many scholars
have given their own definitions. Semantics is the scientific study of meaning. However, our concern
here is not on semantics, but on semantic roles.
DEFINITIONN OF TERM
A semantic role is the underlying relationship that a participant has with the main verb in
a clause. They provide further information about the semantic relationship existing between lexical
items in the language.
Thematic roles are assigned to arguments. Arguments according to Traugott and Pratt
(191) as quoted by Meekwi “are NPS functioning in a variety of ways, including agent, instrument,
experience, source, and so forth”.
The function of case roles is to give information about the state of affairs, events and
processes in which participant are involved.
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
Semantic roles constitute one of the most common and simplest forms of lexical semantic
representation adopted. They are also referred to as cases frame, thematic roles, that is a role and
participant role. They have acquired a prominent role in linguistic theory as quote by Mekuri through
the work Gruber (1965), Fillmore (1968, 1977) and Jackendoff (1972, 1976).
Semantic roles attempt to capture similarities, roles and differences in verb meaning that
are reflected in argument expression, with emergent generalization that will contribute to the
mapping from semantics to syntax.
CHARACTERISTICS OF SEMANTIC ROLES
The characteristics that theories of thematic roles portray in order to fulfill their function are
as follows:
i. Completeness: Every argument of every verb is assigned some thematic role or other.
ii. Uniqueness: Every argument of every verb is assigned only one thematic role.
iii. Distinctness: Every argument of every verb is distinguished from the other argument by the
role it is assigned. Two levels of distinctness are noted here, they are strong distinctness if
uniqueness also holds and weak distinctness if it does not have uniqueness.
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Innovative Journal of Social Science, Arts and Management
iv. Independence: Each role is given a consistent semantic definition that applies to all verbs and
all situations. This role definition do not depend on the meaning of the particular verb or in the
other thematic roles it assigns.
CRITICISMS OF SEMANTIC ROLES
However there exist some criticisms against some of the characteristics. It was noted that
uniqueness does not seem to hold with animate subject of verbs of motion in sentences such as the
following:
David ran into the house linguists claimed that David is both agent, since it initiates and
sustains the movement and theme since it is the object that moves. Another states that it is very
difficult to maintain distinctness if example like the ones below are considered.
David met with Mary.
David resembles his mother.
Both participants seem to be playing the same role in these sentences.
Nonetheless, the goal of semantic roles theories is too obtain a set of roles that can apply to any
argument of any verb. Their function is to make' possible the unique identification of the
arguments of the verb. This is called the argument indexing function of thematic roles.
THE CONCEPT OF SEMANTICS ROLES
A semantic role is the underlying relationship that a participant has with the main verb in a
clause. It is also known as semantic case, thematic role, (generative grammar), and deep case.
Semantic role is the actual role participant plays in some real or imagined situation, apart from the
linguistic encoding of these situations.
For example, if in some real imagined situation, someone named purposely hits someone
named Bill, then John is the agent and Bill is the patient of patient of the hitting event. Therefore,
the semantic role of Bill is the same (patient) in both of the following sentence:
John hit Bill.
Bill was hit by John.
In both sentences, John has the semantic role of 'agent'.
Furthermore, semantic roles most often embodied by the grammatical relations of subject,
object, and indirect object in natural language are: agent, force, instrument, experiencer, recipient,
accompaniment, causer, counter agent, genetic, dative, factitive, manner, measure, beneficiary and
patient. Other semantic are more likely to be embodied in oblique (positional) phrases or adverbials.
Now, to the full explanations. But note that the semantic roles are underlined.
AGENT: This refers to the initiator of some action, capable of acting with volition. According to Ozo-
mekuriNdimele, "the agent is usually an animate entity" (90). Examples include:
1. Dan prepared the meal.
2. The cat jumped over the fence.
3. Anne kicked the ball.
4. Ken slapped his son.
5. Joseph killed the rat.
Note that the underline words (subjects) are examples of 'agents'.
FORCE: This is the situation where inanimate objects perform actions as if they are animate.
Examples are the follows:
1. Wind blew the roof away
2. Thunder struck the boy dead
3. Ken was knocked down by the lorry
4. The flood carried the building afar off
5. Pride blindfolded Satan
It is important to note that “the difference between 'agent' and 'force' is that whereas the former
may involve some form of volition on the part of the initiator of the action, the latter cannot (Ndimele
90-91).
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PATIENT: This refers to the entity that is being affected by the action performed by the agent or
force. It is comparable to the object of the verb in a typical sentence. 'The patient' is the reverse of
'the force' or 'the agent'. Examples:
1. Edna cut the bushes
2. The sun melted the ice
3. The care hit the cat
4. The monkey slapped the owner
5. The bucket was melted by the sun
EXPERIENCER: Ndimele defines it as “an entity that undergoes some psychological state and is
affected by an event or state" (91). Examples:
1. John is angry with his students
2. Martha loves Kingsley
3. Mary hates liars
4. Evelyn likes Gabriel
5. Benson is affectionate to his wife
INTRUMENT: Ndimele provides an explanation as "the thing or entity by which an action is carried
out and the action affects a patient” (91). Examples are as followers:
1. Ken wrote the letter with a pencil
2. Mark destroyed the building with a sledge hammer
3. His mother beat him with a stick
4. My lecturer answered me with abusive words
5. Pastor Okafor chased him away with a pestle
POSSESSORORBENEFICIARY: This simply refers to an entity that benefits from either a positive
or negative action (Ndimele 92). It can be likened to the indirect object in elements in elements of
a sentence in grammar. Some examples include:
1. Ann bought Mabel a car
2. I own a house
[Link] gave me a present
4. Gertrude dashed john money
5. Samson owns a lot of property
LOCATION/LOCATIVE: This means the place where something is situated. As Ndimele asserts, "the
resting place of a thing or an entity". (92).A
A locative semantic role does not imply motion to, from across the location. Consider the
following examples:
1. The food is on the dining table
2. I saw the phone inside her bag
3. She put the money at the corner of the room
4. He has deposited the money in the bank
5. She inserted the memory cared in the phone
SOURCE: This refers to the place from which something originates or the point of origin of
something. Source is the semantic role of the following regerents.
1. The place of origin with verbs of motion, locomotion and propulsion
Example are:
a. John fell off the chair (motion verb)
b. The baby crawled from the kitchen to the door (locomotion verb)
c. John threw the knife into the box (propulsion verb)
2. The entity from which a physical sensation emanates with verbs of sensation, attention, and
speech.
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Innovative Journal of Social Science, Arts and Management
Examples are:
a. John smelled the odour of onions (sensation verb)
b. The people watched the performance of the dancer (attention verb)
c. The mother told her child a story (speech verb)
3. The original owner in a transfer with verbs of acquisition, transfer and grab.
Examples are:
a. John obtained an application from the office (acquisition verb)
b. John bought the book from Tom (transfer verb)
c. John grabbed the book from Tom (grab verb)
GOAL: This is the destination of an entity. It is the direct opposite of the source. Examples of some
the semantic role of goal include:
1. The man played the ball into the net
2. The man drove the truck to the park
3. The robber snatched the money and ran into the bush
4. Adams came into the church
5. The ball hit the post, bounced back and was played into the net
PATH: This refers to the point through which an entity moves. Some examples are:
1. I went to school through the road
2. The man came to the venue through the back door
3. Ann went to the village through the bush to seen the king
4. He went to the market square through the forest
5. Anne walked to the cemetery through the lonely road
ACCOMPANIMENT: We have some examples to include:
1. I ate rice with my wife
2. I went to school with Kenneth
3. The man came alongside the secretary
4. She travelled to London with her family
5. The choristers sing with passion
CAUSER: This refers to the semantic role of referent which instigates or causes an event rather
than doing it. The causer in this sense is usually the surface subject for the verb in a sentence.
Some of the example are:
1. Ken tripped Anne
2. Peter pushed Lovelyn
3. Kenneth tingled me
[Link] pinched Happiness
FACTITIVE: According to John Lyons, “factitive is the semantic role of a referent that results from
the action or state identified by a verb" (491_verbs such as 'make', 'choose', 'judge', 'elect', 'select'
and 'name' are called factitive verbs. Examples include:
1. They judged Anne's way of talking
2. The house elected Kenneth the new president
3. The academic Union of Universities named our school the best technologically
4. The committee selected three Nigerian for the award
5. The bona fide members of the organization chose Mr. Okey Ola as the chairman.
MANNER: “Manner is a semantic role that notes how the action, experience, or process of an event
is carried out" (Lawson 213). He gave one example which is: "the girl walked to school slowly.
“Slowly", expressing the semantic role of manner. Other examples include:
1. Adamu walks sluggishly
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Innovative Journal of Social Science, Arts and Management
2. The choir sings melodiously
3. Joseph eats quickly
4. The boys talks gently
MEASURE: This refers to the semantic role which notes the qualification of an event.
Examples:
1. The new coast costs N7,000.00
2. The building was bought at N2,000,000.00
3. The goods were purchased at N30,000.00
4. He sold the clothes for N8,000.00
GRAMMATICAL RELATIONS AND SEMANTIC ROLES
In English subjects assume the position of agents, direct objects are patients and themes,
and instruments occur as prepositional phrases. This is not always the case. There are two basic
situations to show this. The first is where roles are omitted and the grammatical relations shift to
react to this. The second is where the speaker chooses to alter the usually matching between roles
and grammatical relations
For example:
1. Prisca broke the ice with a pickaxe
[Link] pickaxe broke the ice
[Link] ice broke
In the first sentence, Prisca is the agent and the subject, the ice is the patient and direct
object and the pick axe, which is the instrument, is in a prepositional phrase.
In the second sentence, the AGENT is omitted and the instrument is subject and finally no
AGENT or INSTRUMENT expressed, the PATIENT becomes subject.
This process of different roles occupying the subject position is known as hierarchical process
other example are:
Location as subject
[Link] cottage steeps five adults
[Link] table seats eight
Agent subjects
1. The thief stole the wallet
[Link] jumped out of the plane
Experiencer subjects
1.I forgot the address
[Link] cal is hungry
Recipient subject
1. She received a demand for unpaid tax
2. The building suffered a direct hit
Patient subject
1. The bowl creacked
2. Tobi died
Instrument subjects
1. The key opened the lock
2. The scalpel made a very clean cut
VERBS AND SEMANTIC ROLE GRIDS
It has been claimed that as part of its inherent lexical specification a verb requires its
arguments to be in specific semantic roles. Therefore we need to know how many arguments a verb
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requires (whether it is intransitive, transitive etc) as well as what thematic roles the argument may
hold,
For example, 'put' is three argument verb in this statement and spells out the thematic
roles arguments may carry.
Put (verb) <AGENT, THEME, LOCATION
In the generative grammar literature the listing of thematic roles is called a thematic role and or
theta grid. The thematic grids for 'put' as shown above predict that this verb when saturated with
the correct argument might form a sentence like the following
1. John (agent) put (verb) the book (thee) on the shelf (location)
2. Roland read the book in the room
3. Bartiam cut the tree at the bottom
4. She eat the food under the tree
We should note that not all nominals in a sentence are argument of a verb. For example: To
distinguish between the role of argument played by the prepositional phrase used in the expression
below and its status as a non-argument, we have this prove.
1. Roland put the book in the bathroom
2. Roland read the book in the bathroom
It is ungrammatical to write or say Roland put the book. This reflect the fact that “the prepositional
phrase in the bathroom” cannot be omitted its makes it an argument of the verb 'put'. But in the
second sentence it is possible to write or say Roland read the book. This means the prep phrase is
not an argument of the verb 'read' since it can form a sentence without it.
MERITS AND DEMERITS
Semantic roles are labels for certain recurring predicate argument relations. They have
proved attractive because they provide a way of representing commonalties across different uses
of the same predicate or across uses of distinct but semantically related predicts that may be
obscured because arguments with certain semantic roles may have various semantic realizations.
They provide a level of abstraction for the statement of generalizations concerning a variety of
linguistic phenomena. In particular argument realization generalization are often stated over a
thematic hierarchy, a ranking of semantic role.
Semantic roles are useful in natural language processing. They continue to be useful in
stating linguistic generalization in a descriptive if not theoretical way. The uses of semantic role
labels persist across subfields, including language acquisition, psycholinguistics and neurolinguistic.
However, semantic roles have not lived up to their initial promise. It has prove impossible
to find a small set of roles that can be applied across languages. This desideratum issue must be
met if semantic roles are to figure effectively in accounts of linguistic phenomena.
Furthermore, some generalizations involving semantic roles seem to require reference to coarse-
grained roles, whereas others require reference to fine-grained roles.epridforle8atan.
Moreover, reliable diagnostics are difficult to identify even for the roles cited most often.
Although these difficulties led some researchers to reject semantic roles, others have taken
alternative approaches, including the use of generalized semantic roles, which are inspired by the
notion of prototype.
CONCLUSION
In this paper I outlined the definition of the term semantic role, looked the historical
perspective features where also looked at, after which a comprehensive analysis of the list was
attempted. The grammatical, and verbal with semantic role where also looked at and the merit and
demerits were also treated.
We have seen that semantic roles play important part in semantic analysis.
REFERENCES
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Volume 12, Number 2, 2024
Innovative Journal of Social Science, Arts and Management
Longacre 1983 web
Lyons, John. Semantics. (1977).Vol 1. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Ndimele, Ozo-mekuri. Semantics and Frontiers of Communication. 2nd ed. Portharcourt.
Ogden,C.K, and Richards, I.A. (1923).The meaning of Meaning: A Study of the Influence of
Language Upon Thought and the Science of Symbolism. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
Saeed, J.I. (2003). Semantics. 2"d Edition. Blackwell.
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