Frames and onomasiological dictionaries: a proposal in the interface between cognitive semantics and lexicography

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to make some initial considerations about a theoretical-methodological proposal inserted in the interface between Cognitive Semantics and Lexicography. This proposal, which is currently being developed in a doctoral dissertation, seeks the approximation of Frame Semantics, conceived by Charles J. Fillmore, with onomasiology and the development of onomasiological dictionaries. Onomasiology, a subject of great importance for Structural Semantics, can be approached, under our bias, from the concept of semantic frame introduced by Fillmore. The article presents a theoretical discussion, seeking to show the potential of the interface, as well as the ways through which Frame Semantics can aid lexicographical practice. As a semantic theory based on encyclopedic knowledge, Frames Semantics provides a model for onomasiological dictionaries that takes into account the role of experience and conceptual structure in semantic description.