ATLAS OF LANGUAGE

AT-NAV-G04-024 · ATLAS 259

Patient (semantic role)

Patient is a semantic role typically assigned to a participant affected by an event.

Part of the subject path Semantics and Signs

Why is this entry in the Atlas?

G · Foundational concept R2 · Necessary foundation

Patient is needed to describe affectedness as a semantic role independently of subject or object status. The role does not fit every participant and requires an explicit event relation.

Colours and admission grounds

The rectangular label identifies the entry function: F – linguistic figure or procedure; A – analytical concept; G – foundational concept; E – selected concrete case. The rounded badge indicates the admission ground: R1 – distinctive contribution; R2 – necessary foundation; R3 – justified illustrative case. This editorial rationale explains the current selection rather than claiming an undocumented original selection history.

Explanation

Patient is a semantic role typically assigned to a participant affected by an event. Clear change-of-state events make it especially easy to illustrate. Its precise scope nevertheless varies across role theories; not every account classifies perceived or moving entities identically. Semantic role must also be separated from grammatical function. The same affected participant may be an object in an active clause and a subject in a passive. In the antipassive context, analysis therefore asks how its grammatical expression changes without immediately treating that as a change in its participation in the event.

Movement of thought

1. Describe the event. 2. Identify its participants. 3. Examine the nature and degree of affectedness. 4. Specify the role framework. 5. Compare grammatical realisations separately.

Scientific use case

Cross-linguistic research can code semantic roles and syntactic prominence separately across active, passive and antipassive constructions.

Example

In “Mira breaks the cup”, the cup changes state. In the passive clause “The cup is being broken”, it remains the affected participant.

Counterexample

An accusative object is not automatically a patient; a perceived object need not change when it is seen.

Distinction

Distinguish patient from object, passive subject, a person receiving medical care and event participation generally.

Effect on thought and perception

The distinction reveals comparable event participation across different grammatical forms.

Resonance

The sentence changes perspective while the same cup breaks.

Provenance

Parallel corpus 98f0950771ae4662f291d2f15f5c51b6797f3c20ba458a68615cdb177002ea18; case-bounded source review accepted; human specialist review not claimed.

Cite this entry

Reich, Michael (Hrsg./ed.): „Patient (semantic role)“. Atlas der Sprache, AT-NAV-G04-024. ATLAS 259, data model 1.6.0. https://atlasoflanguage.com/concept/AT-NAV-G04-024

https://atlasoflanguage.com/concept/AT-NAV-G04-024

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