Frame Semantics and Discourse Analysis: The case of Misinterpretation and Misunderstanding in Some Persian Conversations

According to Lee (1997; 2001), frame as one of the fundamental concepts in cognitive linguistics, can be employed for the analysis of discourses including conversations. To this end, the present study attempts to analyze some Persian conversations by applying the concept of Frame as an analytical tool. The analysis of a number of exchanges in the daily Persian reveals that frames are useful for the interpretation of many important utterances. In other words, without a common frame a conversation can easily lead to a misinterpretation or misunderstanding. The main argument, however, will be that communication disorder, created by differences in frames, can be explained on two levels. Sometimes there are different kind of frame in participants' mind; in these situations, we can observe the hearer's misinterpretation or misunderstanding. In other situations, one definite frame includes different concepts in participants' mind, which causes misinterpretation for the hearer.