The Japanese FrameNet Project: An Introduction

Abstract

This paper presents an overview of the Japanese FrameNet (JFN) research project, which began in July 2002. The goal of JFN is to create a corpus-based lexicon of Japanese described in terms of frame semantics. An important question being asked by JFN is whether Japanese words can be described in FrameNet style, i.e., along the same lines as English words. This point is illustrated in this paper with an example of preliminary analysis of Japanese motion verbs. The Japanese FrameNet can be described as a lexicographic project with an eye to finding out similarities and differences between Japanese and English pertaining to their lexical and grammatical