Charles J. Fillmore
Encyclopedia
Charles J. Fillmore is an American linguist
, and an Emeritus Professor of Linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley
. He received his Ph.D. in Linguistics from the University of Michigan
in 1961. Professor Fillmore spent ten years at The Ohio State University
before joining Berkeley's Department of Linguistics in 1971. He has been a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences.
Dr. Fillmore has been extremely influential in the areas of syntax
and lexical semantics
. He was a proponent of Noam Chomsky
's theory of generative grammar
during its earliest transformational grammar
phase. In 1963, his seminal article The position of embedding transformations in a Grammar introduced the transformational cycle, which has been a foundational insight for theories of syntax since that time. He was one of the founders of cognitive linguistics
, and developed the theories of Case Grammar
(Fillmore 1968), and Frame Semantics
(1976). In all of his research he has illuminated the fundamental importance of semantics, and its role in motivating syntactic and morphological
phenomena. His earlier work, in collaboration with Paul Kay
and George Lakoff
, was generalized into the theory of Construction Grammar
. He has had many students, including Laura Michaelis
, Chris Johnson, Miriam R. L. Petruck, Len Talmy, and Eve Sweetser
.
His major project is called FrameNet
; it is a wide-ranging on-line description of the English lexicon. In this project, words are described in terms of the Frames they evoke. Data is gathered from the British National Corpus
, annotated for semantic and syntactic relations, and stored in a database organized by both lexical items and Frames. The project is influential -- Issue 16 of the International Journal of Lexicography
was devoted entirely to it. It has also inspired parallel projects, which investigate other languages, including Spanish, German, and Japanese.
His seminal publications include:
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
, and an Emeritus Professor of Linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
. He received his Ph.D. in Linguistics from the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
in 1961. Professor Fillmore spent ten years at The Ohio State University
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly referred to as Ohio State, is a public research university located in Columbus, Ohio. It was originally founded in 1870 as a land-grant university and is currently the third largest university campus in the United States...
before joining Berkeley's Department of Linguistics in 1971. He has been a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences.
Dr. Fillmore has been extremely influential in the areas of syntax
Syntax
In linguistics, syntax is the study of the principles and rules for constructing phrases and sentences in natural languages....
and lexical semantics
Lexical semantics
Lexical semantics is a subfield of linguistic semantics. It is the study of how and what the words of a language denote . Words may either be taken to denote things in the world, or concepts, depending on the particular approach to lexical semantics.The units of meaning in lexical semantics are...
. He was a proponent of Noam Chomsky
Noam Chomsky
Avram Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, and activist. He is an Institute Professor and Professor in the Department of Linguistics & Philosophy at MIT, where he has worked for over 50 years. Chomsky has been described as the "father of modern linguistics" and...
's theory of generative grammar
Generative grammar
In theoretical linguistics, generative grammar refers to a particular approach to the study of syntax. A generative grammar of a language attempts to give a set of rules that will correctly predict which combinations of words will form grammatical sentences...
during its earliest transformational grammar
Transformational grammar
In linguistics, a transformational grammar or transformational-generative grammar is a generative grammar, especially of a natural language, that has been developed in the Chomskyan tradition of phrase structure grammars...
phase. In 1963, his seminal article The position of embedding transformations in a Grammar introduced the transformational cycle, which has been a foundational insight for theories of syntax since that time. He was one of the founders of cognitive linguistics
Cognitive linguistics
In linguistics, cognitive linguistics refers to the branch of linguistics that interprets language in terms of the concepts, sometimes universal, sometimes specific to a particular tongue, which underlie its forms...
, and developed the theories of Case Grammar
Case grammar
Case Grammar is a system of linguistic analysis, focusing on the link between the valence, or number of subjects, objects, etc., of a verb and the grammatical context it requires. The system was created by the American linguist Charles J. Fillmore in , in the context of Transformational Grammar...
(Fillmore 1968), and Frame Semantics
Frame semantics (linguistics)
Frame semantics is a theory of linguistic meaning that extends Charles J. Fillmore's case grammar. It relates linguistic semantics to encyclopaedic knowledge....
(1976). In all of his research he has illuminated the fundamental importance of semantics, and its role in motivating syntactic and morphological
Morphology (linguistics)
In linguistics, morphology is the identification, analysis and description, in a language, of the structure of morphemes and other linguistic units, such as words, affixes, parts of speech, intonation/stress, or implied context...
phenomena. His earlier work, in collaboration with Paul Kay
Paul Kay
Paul Kay is an emeritus professor of linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley, United States. He joined the University in 1966 as a member of the Department of Anthropology, transferring to the Department of Linguistics in 1982 and now working at the International Computer Science...
and George Lakoff
George Lakoff
George P. Lakoff is an American cognitive linguist and professor of linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley, where he has taught since 1972...
, was generalized into the theory of Construction Grammar
Construction grammar
The term construction grammar covers a family of theories, or models, of grammar that are based on the idea that the primary unit of grammar is the grammatical construction rather than the atomic syntactic unit and the rule that combines atomic units, and that the grammar of a language is made up...
. He has had many students, including Laura Michaelis
Laura Michaelis
Laura A. Michaelis is an Associate Professor in the Department of Linguistics and a faculty fellow in the Institute of Cognitive Science at the University of Colorado at Boulder.- Background and Research :...
, Chris Johnson, Miriam R. L. Petruck, Len Talmy, and Eve Sweetser
Eve Sweetser
Eve Sweetser is a professor of linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley. She received her Ph.D. in Linguistics from UC Berkeley in 1984, and has been a member of the Berkeley faculty since that time...
.
His major project is called FrameNet
FrameNet
FrameNet is a project housed at the International Computer Science Institute in Berkeley, California which produces an electronic resource based on...
; it is a wide-ranging on-line description of the English lexicon. In this project, words are described in terms of the Frames they evoke. Data is gathered from the British National Corpus
British National Corpus
The British National Corpus is a 100-million-word text corpus of samples of written and spoken English from a wide range of sources. It was compiled as a general corpus in the field of corpus linguistics...
, annotated for semantic and syntactic relations, and stored in a database organized by both lexical items and Frames. The project is influential -- Issue 16 of the International Journal of Lexicography
International Journal of Lexicography
The International Journal of Lexicography is a peer-reviewed academic journal in the field of lexicography published by Oxford University Press. It was established in 1988 and appears four times a year...
was devoted entirely to it. It has also inspired parallel projects, which investigate other languages, including Spanish, German, and Japanese.
His seminal publications include:
- "The Position of Embedding Transformations in a Grammar" (1963). In Word 19:208-231.
- "The Case for Case" (1968). In Bach and Harms (Ed.): Universals in Linguistic Theory. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1-88.
- "Frame semantics and the nature of language" (1976): . In Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences: Conference on the Origin and Development of Language and Speech. Volume 280: 20-32.
- "Frame semantics" (1982). In Linguistics in the Morning Calm. Seoul, Hanshin Publishing Co., 111-137.
- (with Sue Atkins) "Starting where the dictionaries stop: The challenge for computational lexicography". (1994). In Atkins, B. T. S. and A. Zampolli (Eds.) Computational Approaches to the Lexicon. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 349-393.
- Lectures on Deixis (1997). Stanford: CSLI Publications. (originally distributed as Fillmore (1975/1971) Santa Cruz Lectures on Deixis by the Indiana University Linguistics Club)