Encyclopaedic semantics
Research into the encyclopaedic nature of meaning has mainly focused on the way semantic structure is organised relative to conceptual knowledge structures. One proposal concerning the organisation of word meaning is based on the notion of a frame against which word-meanings are under stood. This idea has been developed in linguistics by Charles Fillmore (1975, 1977, 1982, 1985a). Frames are detailed knowledge structures or schemas emerging from everyday experiences. According to this perspective, knowledge of word meaning is, in part, knowledge of the individual frames with which a word is associated. A theory of frame semantics therefore reveals the rich network of meaning that makes up our knowledge of words (see Chapter 7).
By way of illustration, consider the verbs rob and steal. On first inspection it might appear that these verbs both relate to a THEFT frame, which includes the following roles: (1) THIEF; (2) TARGET (the person or a place that is robbed); and (3) GOODS (to be) stolen. However, there is an important difference between the two verbs: while rob profiles THIEF and TARGET, stealprofiles THIEF and GOODS. The examples in (12) are from Goldberg (1995: 45).
In other words, while both verbs can occur in sentences with all three participants, each verb has different requirements concerning which two participants it needs. This is illustrated by following examples (although it’s worth observing that (13a) is acceptable in some British English dialects):
As these examples illustrate, our knowledge of word meaning involves complex networks of knowledge.
A related approach is the theory of domains, developed by Langacker (e.g. 1987). In his theory of domains (also discussed in Chapter 7), Langacker argues that knowledge representation can be described in terms of profile-base organisation. A linguistic unit’s profile is the part of its semantic structure upon which that word focuses attention: this part is explicitly mentioned. The aspect of semantic structure that is not in focus, but is necessary in order to understand the profile, is called the base. For instance, the lexical item hunter profiles a particular participant in an activity in which an animal is pursued with a view to it being killed. The meaning of hunter is only understood in the context of this activity. The hunting process is therefore the base against which the participant hunter is profiled.
