语义角色理论述评

A critical review of the semantic role theories

形式和意义是任何语言研究中不可或缺的两个方面。近半个世纪以来,对语义的探讨已成为语法研究的一个重要内容,尤其是句法和语义之间的联系,即语义角色研究。自从Fillmore提出深层语义格这一概念后,格语法、生成语法、角色与指称语法、系统功能语法等国外重要语言学理论,对语句深层结构中的语义关系都进行了系统研究。文章概述了这些重要语言学理论对句法——语义关系的相关论述,并指出当前语义角色研究亟待解决的仍然是其界定及分类这一经典难题。

Both the form and meaning are indispensable parts of linguistic study. For the last fifty years, the study of meaning has been one essential aspect in the linguistic grammars, especially the linking between syntactic structure and semantics, known as semantic roles. Since Fillmore proposed the concept of Deep Case, many important linguistic theories have systematically studied the semantic relations in the underlying structure of clauses, including Case Grammar, Generative Grammar, Role and Reterence Grammar, and Functional Grammar. This paper critically reviews the relevant theories on semantic relations and points out that the problem facing the study of semantic roles is still the definition and classification of semantic roles.