Classifying Frames
Namespaces#
Every accepted frame belongs to exactly one namespace. Its namespace classifies the frame's defined situation, referent or modeling function—not the POS of its LUs or the possible fillers of one FE.
Use the definition, FE semantics and frame relations, supported by representative LU readings and annotations. A name or a majority of lemma types cannot determine the answer. Some namespaces distinguish coarse perspectives on an event; they do not encode every fine construal.
The namespace inventory#
There are thirteen documented frame namespaces: six eventive and seven others. eventive is a family label, not a namespace value. This inventory defines the model; it does not certify that every stored frame is correctly classified.
| Namespace | Positive criterion |
|---|---|
| Agentive | An initiator performs an activity or causes a result; intentional Agent or non-intentional Cause. |
| Change | An entity enters a different condition or undergoes a directed shift, without foregrounding the initiator. |
| Undergoing | Affectedness under an inherent but backgrounded external instigator. |
| Experiential | Constitutive perception, cognition, emotion, felt sensation or attitude with an Experiencer/Cognizer. |
| Phenomenon | A bare occurrence, after more specific eventive criteria have been excluded. |
| State | An entity being in a stable situation: maintained, resultant or general (e.g. existence, being at risk). Applies after Attribute, Relation and Experiential are excluded. |
| Entity | A kind of entity or participant rather than its action or a relation considered as such. |
| Attribute | A property, dimension or value without constitutive maintenance or producing-event dependence. |
| Relation | A holding connection among relata. |
| Structural | A schematic conceptual structure used as grounding/scaffolding. |
| Microframe | A reusable binary relation reified as a frame, with Domain and Range arguments. |
| Class | A frame representing a DUL class, rather than a lexical situation. |
| Pragmatic | Discourse/interaction management, stance or deictic reference as a communicative operation. |
Class is not a synonym for Entity. Structural and Microframe require an explicit modeling function; abstraction or two FEs alone is insufficient.
Classification procedure#
- Identify what the frame describes. Separate lexical situations and referents from discourse operations and explicitly designated scaffolding/class objects.
- Distinguish a participant category from its associated event or relation. FNBr places agentive names in Entity frames; their event participation is recorded separately.
- Apply the psychological-domain gate before aspect, control or causation. Sentience alone is insufficient. A cognitive state, controlled perception and entry into emotion can all be Experiential.
- For nonpsychological conditions, distinguish property predication (Attribute) and a holding connection (Relation) first; otherwise an entity being in a stable situation is State, whether maintained, resultant or general. Do not invent a force from general world knowledge.
- For dynamic situations, compare initiation/action (Agentive), externally imposed affectedness (Undergoing) and transition/directed shift, including gradual change (Change). A multi-phase scenario has no namespace of its own: apply the same comparison to what its definition foregrounds.
- Use Phenomenon only as a supported residual. Missing information means defer, not Phenomenon.
- Check all the evidence. Mixed situations may require separate frames or LU readings, not one namespace replacement.
Grammar is supporting evidence. Passive voice, subject choice, ser/estar/ficar, progressive or imperative compatibility, duration and argument count are not automatic namespace gates. Implicit participants still count. A contextual construction can add a path, cause or result without changing the lexical frame of its target.
Situations and conceptual grounding#
The DUL distinction between Event and Situation allows several views of one happening without identifying lexical records with that happening. FNBr models the six eventive categories as Situation kinds: AgentiveSituation, UndergoingSituation, ExperientialSituation, PhenomenonSituation and StativeSituation, with Change aligned to Transition (the StativeSituation class name predates the renaming of Stative to State). These are grounding correspondences, not Berkeley namespace categories or evidence that all database links are populated.
A frame's conceptual schema describes the structure against which its meaning is interpreted. The namespace and grounding schema are distinct axes. In particular, State covers active maintenance, resultant conditions and general stable situations; shared attributive structure does not erase producing-event dependence where it exists.
Perspective and frame families#
Agentive, Undergoing and Change may distinguish initiation, affectedness and transition within an event family. This is a semantic contrast, not a subject/voice alternation rule. Related frames may also share a namespace: causing an emotion, entering it and experiencing it can all be Experiential while remaining distinct frames.
A legitimate perspective pair does not establish that a particular LU belongs in either member. Preserve each reading's participant structure and lexical contribution. Agentive/inchoative links and Perspective_on links have distinct meanings; do not create one merely because the other could connect a pair.
The FrameNet patterns page gives the verified requirements for frame separation, neutral perspectives, event/state families and participant associations.
Scenarios and modality#
Scenario is a frame type, not a namespace. A scenario has a namespace based on its own definition; do not inherit the namespace from one perspectivized child. A scenario that organizes phases is classified by what its definition foregrounds: an initiator carrying the phases out is Agentive (Criminal_process, Commerce_scenario), an entity passing through them is Change (Cycle_of_life_and_death, Motion_scenario), an experiencer's states are Experiential (Sleep_wake_cycle), and an unfolding with no profiled participant is Phenomenon (Process). In a phase schema the boundaries are Change, causing them is Agentive and the continuation is State. See Frame classification.
Modality is cross-cutting, not a namespace. Classify the defined meaning:
| Meaning | Classification guidance |
|---|---|
| Possibility/probability of a proposition without a Cognizer | Attribute |
| A thinker's confidence or belief | Experiential |
| Imposing a duty as an action | Agentive |
| Obligation holding of a party | Evaluate State versus Relation from its definition; do not infer the answer from deontic vocabulary alone. |
| Capability as an entity's property | Attribute, unless a more specific experiential or relational meaning is constitutive. |
| Speaker's discourse management or stance display | Pragmatic when the communicative operation itself is profiled. |
Boundaries requiring explicit review#
The following are not settled by a word-level example or by the types of the lemmas involved:
- Gradual Change versus Undergoing or Phenomenon, phase manipulation, caused processes and unbounded directed motion.
- State versus Attribute/Relation for health, vital state, origin and social/legal status.
- Attribute versus Relation for measurement and comparison.
- Experiential versus general traits/dispositions where psychological content is unclear.
- Lexical versus scaffolding uses, microframe lexicalization and underspecified neutral scenarios.
For these cases, document the alternatives and missing evidence and defer the affected assignment. Do not assign two namespaces to one frame. Lemma types do not restrict LU allocation by namespace (Lemmas §8). Namespace criteria do not authorize automatic LU moves, retyping or merges.