Theta/Case interactions in syntax and semantics

SAAB, ANDRÉS

Conferencia; Conferencista invitado; 2018

USP

This papers aims to a reconsideration of θ-theory such as it is conceived of in different syntactic approaches (from Chomsky 1981 to Hornstein 1999) and in semantic approaches (Kratzer 1996, Heim & Kratzer 1998, Pylkkänen 2008, among many others), according to which θ-roles are not syntactic primitives but just the result of functional application. Both mainstream syntactic and semantic approaches share a strong locality view of predicate-argument relations that reduces thematic relations to sisterhood. Another crucial property shared by mainstream approaches is the disconnection between Case and thematic relations. The Case Filter is mostly considered as a purely formal phenomenon related to legibility at PF. Here, I will dispense with both the strong locality view of θ-Theory and the formal version of the Case Filter and show the syntactic and semantic implications of such a move regarding the proper nature of θ-roles and K(ase) nodes. Taking a set of se constructions in Spanish as a case study, I will show that (a) θ-roles are syntactic primitives that can be assigned in a long-distance fashion up to argument activity (aka syntactic visibility) plus some locality conditions, and that (b) at LF, θ-roles are semantically realized as functions from entities to event predicates (i.e., ) on K(ase) heads. This new approach implies a revival of the Visibility Condition (Chomsky 1986) motivated now on purely model-theoretical considerations at LF. On this theory, structural K is conceived of an argument introducer mediating between predicates (pure event properties) and arguments, whose particular semantics is syntactically determined; i.e., via allosemy.