The paper deals with the linguistic phenomenons of scripts and frames and their influnece on our daily life. The focus lies with the well known Restaurant Script and the Travel Frame.
Intr.
In the early 70s the US linguist Charles J. Fillmore introduced the notion of frame. The aim was “to widen the scope of lexical and grammatical analysis” (Ungerer & Schmid 2006:207) The initial interpretation of the term, however soon change into a cognitive way. In 1992 Fillmore talks about frames as “cognitive structure [...] knowledge of which is presupposed for the concepts encoded by words.” (Ungerer & Schmid 2006:210) We can state that the notion of frames shifted from being a linguistic construct towards a cognitive one. But not only in linguistics has the frame notion been used, but also in terms of artificial intelligence, namely computer, which have become part of our daily lives and irreplaceable just as language itself.
Concl.
In total we can say that the notion of frame laid the foundation for scripts and event-frames. Both contributed to improve the understanding of the way people hear, speak and think. Scripts were developed or introduced to “account for knowledge structures that represent larger sequences of events by casual chains.” (Ungerer & Schmid 2006: 217) Furthermore are script a necessity for computer scientists to feed computers with information in order to create a kind of artificial intelligence. Without these structures and information of standard situations and the behavior concerning it, computers would not be able to process the information given which could be seen on the example of the definite article in the first little story about football. Especially examples like the Restaurant Script can be used to explain the properties of scripts in general. Event-frames were designed to widen the scope of the linguistic analysis. This means in particular taking into account parts of sentences which before had not been examined like adverbials or even expressions that are not contained in the written form. Furthermore are event-frames interesting in terms of language acquisition and use in different languages, which could be seen with the story “Frog, where are you?” Here it becomes clear that satellite-framed languages like English seem to be more feasible when it comes to describing motion as the MANNER is incorporated in the PATH. In the end scripts and event-frames can be labeled as important scientific aspects of cognitive linguistics.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Scripts
2.1. The Restaurant Script
2.2. Script Deviations
2.3. Script Interactions
2.4. Types of Scripts
3. The Travel Script
4. Event Frames
4.1. Windowing of Attention
4.2. PATH and MANNER in Verb-Framed vs. Satellite-Framed Languages
4.3. Translation of MANNER in Motion Events
4.4. Frog, Where are You?
5. The Travel Event-Frame
6. Conclusion
Objectives and Topics
This work aims to explore the cognitive linguistic concepts of scripts and event-frames, specifically focusing on how they structure human knowledge and facilitate information processing for both biological and artificial intelligence. The research investigates how these cognitive constructs enable the understanding of sequences of events and motion through space.
- The role of scripts in managing stereotyped events and overcoming script deviations.
- The structure of event-frames in describing motion through space and time.
- Cross-linguistic analysis of motion events, comparing satellite-framed and verb-framed languages.
- The practical application of scripts and event-frames in artificial intelligence and language acquisition.
Excerpt from the Book
2. Scripts
Like already mentioned above computers have become irreplaceable in our daily lives. The artificial intelligence however, soon reaches its limit when it comes to duplicating human behaviour. Therefore Scripts are necessary for computers to copy the way we behave, think and interact with each other. Before we discuss the notion of Scripts in detail however, we have to go one step back first and look at the way in which frames become scripts.
The frame notion has been used for computers and artificial intelligence more general and wider, but also in a more technical way, than it has been in linguistics. Here Frames do not end with single sentences but refer to larger units, linguistically and in a cognitive way, namely entire sentences and even shorter stories. As an example we can have a look at the following short story.
Philipp went to watch a football match. After he got himself a beer he looked for his seat. When the ball got kicked out of the stadium the referee had to interrupt the match.
Summary of Chapters
1. Introduction: Introduces the historical development of the frame notion from a linguistic construct by Charles J. Fillmore towards a cognitive structure relevant for artificial intelligence.
2. Scripts: Defines scripts as knowledge structures that describe appropriate sequences of events, including how they handle deviations, interactions, and different categorizations.
3. The Travel Script: Applies the script theory to a specific context by defining the scenes and preconditions necessary for a travel-by-car sequence.
4. Event Frames: Discusses Leonard Talmy's theory of event-frames, focusing on the cognitive components of motion and the process of windowing attention.
5. The Travel Event-Frame: Provides a concrete analysis of a travel-related sentence using the components of event-frames and examining the flexibility of path-windowing.
6. Conclusion: Summarizes how scripts and event-frames enhance our understanding of human cognition and language, while highlighting the importance of satellite-framed structures in motion descriptions.
Keywords
Scripts, Event-Frames, Cognitive Linguistics, Artificial Intelligence, Path-Windowing, Satellite-Framed Languages, Verb-Framed Languages, Motion Events, Mental Modeling, Knowledge Structures, Interaction, Deviations, Information Processing, Common Stock of Knowledge, Manner
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core subject of this publication?
The work examines the cognitive linguistic theories of scripts and event-frames, evaluating how they structure events and motion in both human and artificial systems.
What are the primary thematic areas covered?
The central themes include the structural organization of scripts, the cognitive components of motion event-frames, and the cross-linguistic differences in how languages express spatial movement.
What is the main research goal?
The goal is to demonstrate how scripts provide a framework for computers to understand stereotyped behavior and how event-frames allow for the linguistic analysis of motion events.
Which scientific methodology is utilized?
The author uses a qualitative analysis approach, applying established cognitive linguistic theories—specifically from Schank, Abelson, and Talmy—to illustrative examples and picture stories.
What is discussed in the main chapters?
The text progresses from the general introduction of frames and scripts to detailed discussions on how to handle script interferences, followed by a technical analysis of event-frame components like PATH, MANNER, and windowing.
Which keywords best characterize this work?
Key terms include scripts, event-frames, cognitive linguistics, path-windowing, and motion events.
How does the concept of "windowing" influence the description of motion?
Windowing allows speakers to foreground specific parts of a motion event while backgrounding or "gapping" others, which are then inferred by the listener based on shared knowledge.
Why is the "Frog, Where are You?" story used in the analysis?
It serves as a basis for cross-linguistic comparison between Spanish and English to highlight how different languages incorporate the component of MANNER into the PATH description.
What constitutes a "script deviation"?
A script deviation occurs when expected actions are blocked (obstacles) or results are unexpected (errors), requiring the actor to utilize "prescriptions" or "loops" to continue the sequence.
- Quote paper
- Martin Steger (Author), 2010, Describing Travel in Terms of Scripts and Event-Frames, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.hausarbeiten.de/document/201099
