Objects and OBJ

The notion of object plays an important role in both descriptive and theoretical work, especially so in a theory such as Lexical-Functional Grammar, where a separate functional structure is assumed in which grammatical relations are captured. In spite of the importance attached to the notion, the object is a relatively understudied phenomenon. In this paper, we consider how the function object links to semantic content, in particular to thematic roles. We conclude that unlike subject, object is not associated with any easily definable semantic content, it is a semantically inert grammatical function. To the extent that it is associated with any one thematic role, this is the Theme, the vaguest of thematic roles. We show how languages exploit this semantic vagueness, for instance through the use of cognate object and pseudo-objects and we consider the impact of this for the association between thematic roles and grammatical relations.