Frame semantics

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The frame semantics is a semantic theory that the meaning of linguistic expressions in relation to the world of knowledge analyzed the spokesman.

Development of frame semantics

The frame semantics was conceived by Charles J. Fillmore as a further development of the case grammar . In the German-speaking countries, however, the linguistic frame theory was initially only assigned a pre-theoretical value for linguistics. Due to its theoretical basis on the sign , it is now considered to be linguistically well-founded. For example, the linguists Alexander Ziem and Klaus Peter Konerding sketched relevant terms and theories in order to linguistically base the frame semantics. Frame semantics is increasingly establishing itself as a cognitive science methodology in semantics research. In addition, the frame semantics can be described as interdisciplinary research, since its theory is fed by AI research, cognitive psychology and linguistics.

Frame term

The frame semantics is based on the insight that the meaning of a linguistic expression (e.g. a word ) can only be grasped if one has the appropriate world knowledge. The decisive factor in frame semantics is the assumption that this world knowledge is organized in so-called frames . Accordingly, frames are knowledge frames that have been formed on the basis of experience. Within the process of understanding, frames have the function of feeding in and organizing knowledge relevant to understanding.

A frame is thus a mental representation of a stereotypical situation, which speakers abstract from their repeated experience with real situations and whose individual elements can only be defined in relation to one another. In frame semantics, it is assumed that every linguistic expression activates (at least) one such frame and is understood in relation to this frame. An activated frame prompts an actant to create a reference based on the relevant background knowledge. Thus, a frame activates certain ideas and also controls the expectations of the recipient .

So you can z. For example, understand the word buy only in relation to a frame that could be described as a “commercial transaction”. At least the following elements belong to this frame:

  • a seller,
  • buyers,
  • a commodity,
  • a price and
  • Money, and possibly a bill and receipt.

In addition, this frame includes knowledge of the relationship between these frame elements: the seller owns the goods, he would like to sell them for money, he sets a price, the buyer gives the seller a corresponding amount, whereupon the goods are in passes his possession, etc.

The decisive factor here is that the meaning of individual words is generally not defined by individual frame elements, but by a particular perspective of a frame. From the buyer's point of view, a commercial transaction is described with the verb buy , and from the seller's point of view with the verb sell . In a similar way, the transfer of money can be put into perspective with different verbs on different frame elements: on the price ( she paid the asking price ), on the goods ( she paid the book ), on the money from the perspective of the buyer ( She spent a lot of money on the book ), the money from the seller's perspective ( He received a lot of money for the book ), etc.

The transaction frame allows us not only to understand individual words, but also to understand the similarities and differences between semantically related words in a uniform frame of reference.

The structural constituents of frames

  • Spaces indicate by which predication an expression can be meaningfully contextualized.
  • Standard values are (provisionally) inferred data that is already associated with the called frame. They fill spaces in a frame. It is data that can typically be expected.
  • Concrete fill values are data currently given by the context and perception. They specify the frame by also occupying spaces.

Areas of application

Frame semantics was originally a theory for capturing the meaning of words . In the meantime, however, frames are also used in the most important versions of construction grammar to describe construction meanings. For example, the meaning of the transitive construction is described by a general “transfer frame”.

There are a number of projects that deal with the acquisition and systematisation of frames and make the results available in the form of lexical databases. The first of these projects was the FrameNet project for the English language initiated by Charles Fillmore . There are now similar projects for other languages, e.g. for German. B. the "SALSA project" and the "GermanNet project" (see web links).

See also

literature

  • Adele Eva Goldberg : Constructions. A Construction Grammar Approach to Argument Structure (Cognitive Theory of Language and Culture). University of Chicago Press, Chicago 1995, ISBN 0-226-30086-2 (also dissertation, University of Berkeley 1992).
  • Dietrich Busse: Semantics ( UTB ; 3280). W. Fink Verlag, Paderborn 2009, ISBN 978-3-8252-3280-1 , p. 14, 80-90.
  • Dietrich Busse: Frame Semantics. A compendium . De Gruyter, Berlin / Boston 2012, ISBN 978-3110269406 .
  • Helmut Glück : Frame semantics. In: Ders (Hrsg.): Metzler Lexikon Sprache. 4th edition. Metzler, Stuttgart 2010, ISBN 978-3-476-02335-3 .
  • Klaus-Peter Konerding: Frames and lexical meaning knowledge. Investigations on the linguistic foundation of a frame theory and its application in lexicography (series germanistic linguistics; vol. 142). Max Niemeyer Verlag, Tübingen 1993, ISBN 3-484-31142-8 (plus dissertation, Heidelberg University 1992).
  • Miriam RL Petruck: Frame Semantics . In: Jef Verschueren, Jan-Ola Östman, Jan Blommaert, Chris Bulcaen (eds.): Handbook of Pragmatics . John Benjamin Press, Amsterdam 1996, ISBN 90-272-2157-X ( online ).
  • Alexander Ziem: Frames and Linguistic Knowledge: Cognitive Aspects of Semantic Competence . in Ekkehard fields (ed.): Language and knowledge . (Vol. 2) De Gruyter, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-11-020275-5 . (also dissertation, University of Düsseldorf 2007)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Alexander Ziem: Frame semantics and discourse analysis. On the relationship between two knowledge analyzes. Discourse analysis in Germany and France. Current trends in the social and linguistic sciences. June 30th - July 2nd 2005, Paris, Université Val-de-Marne. Appears in: http://www.univ-paris12.fr/www/labos/ceditec/colloqueADFA.html