Frame ‘Zwischenmenschliche Beziehungen’ in literary discourse (on the material of B. Schlink’s novel “Der Vorleser”)

Abstract

In the article the frame structures depicting interpersonal relationship of the literary characters in the German fictional discourse have been analyzed. The differentiation between the notions “frame” and “frame structure” has been made. Frames are qualified as cognitive formations, the component parts of which are the terminals and which are realized in a discourse by means of the frame structures. The key constituents of the frame structures are the terminal elements which provide language realization of the terminals. The analysis of the frame structures depicting interpersonal relationships of the literary characters has been carried out on the basis of the frame ‘Zwischenmenschliche Beziehungen’ (‘Interpersonal Relationships’). This frame is considered as a cognitive structure containing categorial knowledge about people’s interpersonal relationships which are expressed in persons’ mutual influence which they experience in the process of communication with each other and in common activity. On the basis of the dictionary definitions the basic terminals of the frame ‘Zwischenmenschliche Beziehungen’ (‘Interpersonal relationships’) have been defined: Verbindung (Connection), Kontakt (Contact), Gegenseitiger Einfluss (Mutual influence), Innerer Zusammenhang (Inner interrelation), Kommunikation (Communication), Gemeinsame Aktivität (Common activity), Wechselseititiges Verhältnis (Mutual relashinship). The analysis of the lexical units that represent the above-mentioned terminals and depict interpersonal relationships of the literary heroes has been fulfilled. The frame denoting peoples’ relations is actualized by means of the terminal elements which fill the frame structures in the analyzed discourse, reproducing interpersonal contacts and mutual influences of the literary personages. As the result of this research, it was concluded that the frame structures are an effective means in the illustration of the interpersonal relationships of the characters of a fiction discourse as well as a productive mechanism in decoding of author’s intentions.