The Case of the Theta System

Abstract Reinhart's ‘The Theta System’ is part of a series of publications (Reinhart 1997, Reinhart 2000, Reinhart and Siloni to appear) dealing with the lexicon as the interface of the computational system and the conceptual-intentional interface. In this paper, Reinhart focuses on Theta Theory, i.e. a complex consisting of Theta roles as feature bundles; Arity manipulation rules; Mapping procedures. It is work in progress, which means that Reinhart changes her positions in these papers, but for argument sake, and for the sake of the reader, I will limit myself to positions taken by Reinhart in this volume. Reinhart sketches the general contours of the Theta System, necessarily succinct, and limits the empirical domain in this paper to experiencer constructions. In this respect too, I will take over the limitations set out by the paper.