THE PROTOTYPE MOTIVE ROLE MODEL IN THEMATIC ROLES CLASSIFICATION

Abstract

Up to date, various classifications have been made for the thematic roles reflecting the semantic relations of nouns or noun phrases related to the syntactic component and glossary through different role lists. These classifications were based on syntactic positions such as case suffixes, subject and object, and the implicit semantic properties of nouns and verbs [±human], [±animate], [±motion]. Various hierarchies were suggested based on the power of roles to acquire the position of subject or object. In certain studies, roles were grouped through the oppositions of basic or prototype roles. The Prototype Motive Role Model proposed in the present study classifies and positions roles over a superior role where innate and motion perception are converted into a linguistic unit through the Language Acquisition Device. This role, which is associated with the perception of motion related to the visual system and regarded as an abstract cognitive trigger due to the fact that it does not occur in sentences, is called the Motive role. The roles reflected in the sentence in production were positioned over their relationship with the prototype Motive role. Unlike the classifications formed by binary oppositions such as Agent and Patient, this model, which reveals that all roles are shaped and distinguished from each other through motion, did not group roles coercively. On the contrary, it provided them with a more acceptable explanatory power through the cognitive and abstract Motive role. On the other hand, one of the important findings of the present study is the observation that the universality of roles takes place through a motive and innate role that triggers all potential roles and not through coercive role castings that are assumed to be valid in all languages.