Lexicon, Grammar, and Multilinguality in the Japanese FrameNet

This paper discusses findings of a frame-based contrastive text analysis, using the large-scale and precise descriptions of semantic frames provided by the FrameNet project (Baker, 2006; Fillmore, 2006). It points out that even though the existing FrameNet methodology allows us to compare languages at a more detailed level than previous studies (e.g. Talmy, 2003; Slobin, 2004), in order to investigate how different languages encode the same events, it is also necessary to make cross-references to grammatical constructions rather than limiting ourselves to analyzing the semantics of frame-bearing predicates. Based on a contrastive text analysis of an English-Japanese aligned parallel corpus and on the lexicon-building project of Japanese FrameNet (Ohara et al., 2006), the paper attempts to represent interactions between lexical units and constructions of Japanese sentences in terms of the combined lexicon and “constructicon,” currently being developed in FrameNet (Fillmore, 2006). By applying the idea to the analysis of Japanese in Japanese FrameNet, it is hoped that the study will give support to working out the details of the new FrameNet directions.