Université de Montréal - Thèse sous forme numérique

117the nature of language‖, that the author adopted the term Frame Semantics for whatwould be ―a research program in empirical semantics which emphasizes the continuitiesbetween language and experience, and provides a framework for presenting the resultsof that research‖ (Petruck, 1996: 1). In this paper, Fillmore refers once again to thelimitations of the generativist tradition and explains his motivations to develop thetheory of Frame Semantics (1976: 22-23):Linguists especially those working within the generativist tradition, take as theirmain goal that of characterizing the set of abilities that together make up anindividual‘s knowledge of his language. […] I have no quarrel with thisprogram as far as it goes; but I feel that for many purposes we need to add tothis approach an awareness of the importance of the social functions oflanguage, a concern with the nature of the speech production andcomprehension processes, and an interest in the relationships between what aspeaker says and the context in which he says it. […] A proposal that I favour isthat in characterizing a language system we must add to the description ofgrammar and lexicon a description of the cognitive and interactional ―frames‖in terms of which the language-user interprets his environment, formulates hisown messages, understands the messages of others, and accumulates or createsan internal model of his world.Later, in 1982, Fillmore admits adopting the term frame from Minsky‘sterminology (1975), although the term was being used by researchers working in otherfields such as neuropsychology (Bransford and Johnson 1973) and sociology (Goffman1974, 1981). Being a researcher in IA (Artificial Intelligence), Minsky was concernedwith the question of how to equip computers with the world knowledge they wouldneed to perform otherwise impossible tasks (Bednarek 2005: 689). One of Minsky‘soften-cited definitions of ―frame‖ is the following (Minsky, 1977: 355):Here is the essence of the frame theory: When one encounters a new situation[…], one selects from memory a structure called a frame. This is a rememberedframework to be adapted to fit reality by changing details as necessary. A frameis a data structure for representing a stereotyped situation like being in a certainkind of living room or going to a child‘s birthday party. Attached to each frameare several kinds of information. [...] Some is about what one can expect tohappen next.