Exploring Semantic and Syntactic Properties of Agent Theta Roles in Urdu

Abstract

The study’s aim is to explore the syntactic and semantic properties of agent theta roles in Urdu language and to discuss how agents are structurally placed and semantically interpreted across diverse sentence forms. Urdu language has been widely studied for its morphological and phonological features, limited attention has been given to the semantic and syntactic features of agent theta roles of Urdu language. The main objective of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore the various theta roles and theta criterion semantically and syntactically, grounded in Chomsky’s one of GB module theta theory (Chomsky’s, 1981). Data were collected from the native Urdu speakers from Lahore, central Punjab while utilizing snowball sampling techniques. Carnie’s (2007) thematic role framework guided the analysis, focusing on the behavior of agentive roles in intransitive, transitive, and causative constructions. The analysis revealed that the verbs are classified based on the number and type of core arguments they require—ranging from single roles (such as agent, theme, experiencer, or patient) to dual or triple roles (including goal and source). The findings indicate that Urdu verbs demonstrate flexibility in assigning agent roles, which vary depending on sentence structure and verb type. The study also identifies how causative and inchoative verb forms influence theta role assignment. These insights enhance understanding of Urdu’s syntactic and semantic systems. These findings suggest that various agentive roles of Urdu offer valuable implications for comparative linguistics, natural language processing, and educational linguistics. Furthermore, it opens tha path for Asian languages to compare linguistics patterns and explore semantic and syntactic association at broader level.