Thematic Relations and the Semantic Representation of Verbs Expressing Change

The main purpose of this paper is to show that the system of thematic relations used in transformational (lexical) semantics to organize the semantic representation, is of great importance to both linguists and psycholinguists. The thematic analysis, developed by Gruber and recently elaborated by Jackendoff, amounts to claiming that with every verb expressing change a thematic kernel pattern can-be associated consisting of the semantic functions Theme, Source, Goal and Path. The Theme "travels" from a certain Source-position to a Goal-position, moving along a Path. It is proposed here that the semantic functions Theme, Source and Goal are analyzed in terms of a CHANGE-predication, consisting of a two-place predicate CHANGE and two arguments, namely a Source-proposition and a Goal-proposition. Both propositions are structurally similar AT-predications, where AT is taken as a two-place predicate whose first argument pertains to the Theme. The second argument \ of AT in both Source-and Goal-proposition consists of an ordered pair of times and spatial positions. The notion 'Path of a movement expressed by a verb' is taken as a function from temporal intervals to spatial positions. The notion 'Path of the Theme' is ultimately defined in terms of the above-mentioned AT-predication. On the basis of the notions developed with respect to the thematic kernel pattern, it is possible to exactly characterize information concerning the internal structure of the Path of a Theme, concerning repetition of movements and finally information concerning the medium. H. Clark's notion of P-Space is modified in such a way that more abstract kinds of movement can be taken into account.