Faculty of English Language and Literature – Introduction to Linguistics II

Semantic features

Exercise 3: Mark the following words for the semantic features included in the table:

Table / cow / boy / man / girl / widow / bus / drake / wine / charity
Animate / - / + / + / + / + / + / - / + / - / -
Human / - / - / + / + / + / + / - / - / - / -
Female / - / + / - / - / + / + / - / - / - / -
Adult / - / + / - / + / - / + / - / + / - / -
Abstract / - / - / - / - / - / - / - / - / - / +
Liquid / - / - / - / - / - / - / - / - / + / -
Artefact / + / - / - / - / - / - / + / - / - / -
darken / kill / swim / kiss / throw / break / know / like / grow / learn
Event / + / + / + / + / + / + / - / - / + / +
State / - / - / - / - / - / - / + / + / - / -
Change of state / + / + / - / - / - / + / - / - / + / +
Motion / - / - / + / - / + / - / - / - / - / -
Force / - / - / + / - / + / + / - / - / - / -
Contact / - / - / + / + / + / + / - / - / - / -

Semantic/Thematic Roles

Exercise 5: Identify the semantic role of each noun phrase in the following utterances, as well as the words that assign the roles:

1. My sister bought a newspaper from the kiosk. (agent, theme “bought”, location/source “from”)

2. John heard the noise in the kitchen. (experiencer, theme “heard”, location “in”)

3. She hit the dog with her umbrella. (agent, patient “hit”, instrument “with”)

4. Jeremy kissed his son. (agent, patient “kissed”)

5. She gave her old clothes to the poor. (agent, theme, recipient “gave”)

6. I feel ill. (experiencer “feel”)

7. The ice-cream melted all over the table. (theme “melted”, location “all over”)

8. The boy took the books from the cupboard with a handcart. (agent, theme “took”, location/source “from”, instrument “with”.

9. Mary found a ball. (agent, theme “found”)

10. The children ran from the playground to the pool. (agent “ran”, location/source “from”, location/goal “to”)

11.One of the men unlocked all the doors with a paper clip. (agent, theme “unlocked”, instrument “with”)

12. John melted the ice with a hairdryer. (agent, patient “melted”, instrument “with”)

13. Helen saw a ghost. (experiencer, theme “saw”)

14. Helen screamed. (agent “screamed”)

15. The boy managed to see the man with a telescope. (experiencer, theme “see”, instrument “with”)

16. The farmer loaded hay onto the truck. (agent, theme “loaded”, location/goal “onto”)

17. The farmer loaded the hay with a pitchfork. (agent, theme “loaded”, instrument “with”)

18. The hay was loaded on the truck by the farmer. (theme “loaded”, location/goal “on”, agent “by”)

19. Helen looked for a cockroach. (agent, theme “looked for”)

20. Alex snored. (agent “snored”)

Exercise 6: For each of the following verbs, analyse their thematic structure by indicating the thematic roles they require. E.g. kill [Agent ____ Theme], give [Agent ______Theme, Goal].

  1. Break [agent ------theme]
  2. Build [agent ------theme]
  3. Die [ experiencer ------]
  4. Eat [agent ------theme]
  5. Fear [experiencer ------cause]
  6. Kiss [agent ------theme]
  7. Like [experiencer ------theme]
  8. Occupy [theme ------location]
  9. Offer [agent ------theme, recipient]
  10. Open [agent ------theme]
  11. Put [agent ------theme, location]
  12. Receive [recipient ------theme, (source)]
  13. Send [agent ------theme, recipient]
  14. Sneeze [experiencer ------]
  15. Steal [agent ------theme]
  16. Taste [experiencer ------theme]
  17. Teach [agent ------theme, experiencer]
  18. Understand [experiencer ------theme]
  19. Want [experiencer ------theme]
  20. Write [agent ------theme, (recipient)]