Theta-position

Theta-position is an A-position to which a theta-role is assigned.

Example

in John buys the apples both the arguments John and the apples are in a theta-position being theta-marked as Agent and Theme. But the verb seems in (i) does not assign a theta-role to its grammatical subject John. Therefore, the matrix subject position, although an A-position, is not a theta-position.

(i) John seems [ti to have left]

The positions in (i) containing John and its trace t_i are both A-positions, but only the position of the trace is a theta-position. An A-position to which no theta-role is assigned (such as the one in (i) which is taken by John) is called a theta-bar position (theta'-position). Another name for theta-bar position is non-theta position.

Links

Utrecht Lexicon of Linguistics

References

• Chomsky, N. 1986a. Knowledge of language: its nature, origin and use, Praeger, New York.
• Chomsky, N. 1981. Lectures on Government and Binding, Foris, Dordrecht.

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