assign a "theme", so (iv) is ruled out. Alternative approaches Theta-criterion experienced its golden age in the 1980s when people discussed its application to various languages and structures and developed many other theories from it. However, after the minimalist program challenged some cornerstones of government and binding theory, people started to question the validity of this criterion, especially the number of theta-roles allowed to be taken by an argument. Hornstein and Boeckx, for example, proposed that there is no upper limit on the number of theta-roles an argument can receive during derivation. In their theory, the function of selecting correct number of arguments is shouldered by case theory, and theta-roles are just features on verbs that needs to be checked . See also Notes References Linguistics Generative syntax Thematic roles