FrameNet

FrameNet is a group of online <a href="/facts/Lexical_resource/yCwD4rqz">lexical databases</a> based upon the theory of meaning known as <a href="/facts/Frame_semantics_(linguistics)/fclM8rvz">Frame semantics</a>, developed by linguist <a href="/facts/Charles_J._Fillmore/TeCE62aP">Charles J. Fillmore</a>. The project's fundamental notion is simple: most words' meanings may be best understood in terms of a semantic frame, which is a description of a certain kind of event, connection, or item and its actors.
As an illustration, the act of cooking usually requires the following: a cook, the food being cooked, a container to hold the food while it is being cooked, and a heating instrument. Within FrameNet, this act is represented by a frame named Apply_heat, and its components (Cook, Food, Container, and Heating_instrument), are referred to as frame elements (FEs). The Apply_heat frame also lists a number of words that represent it, known as lexical units (LUs), like fry, bake, boil, and broil.
Other frames are simpler. For example, Placing only has an <a href="/facts/Agent_(grammar)/EyraFmNd">agent</a> or cause, a <a href="/facts/Thematic_relation/T57IHVuS">theme</a>—something that is placed—and the location where it is placed. Some frames are more complex, like Revenge, which contains more FEs (offender, injury, injured party, avenger, and punishment). As in the examples of Apply_heat and Revenge below, FrameNet's role is to define the frames and annotate sentences to demonstrate how the FEs fit syntactically around the word that elicits the frame.

FrameNet open-in-new

FrameNet