Towards Linguistically Motivated Computational Models of Framing

Feb 28 -29, 2024,  Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany

46th Annual Conference of the German Linguistic Society (DGfS 2024)

Workshop dinner: join us after the welcome reception (28.02) at 20.30, here: https://www.bermuda3eck.de/sofra/ 

Framing is a central notion in the study of language use to rhetorically package information strategically to achieve conversational goals (Entman, 1993) but also, more broadly, in the study of how we organize our experience (Goffman, 1974). In his seminal article, Entman (1993) defines framing as "to select some aspects of a perceived reality and make them more salient in a communicating text, in such a way as to promote problem definition, causal interpretation, moral evaluation, and/or treatment recommendation for the item described." This frame definition has recently been operationalized in NLP in terms of coarse-grained topic dimensions (Card et al., 2015), e.g., by modeling the framing of immigration in the media as a challenge to economy vs. a human rights issue. But there is more to frames than just topics.

The breadth of the debate on what constitutes a frame and on its (formal and cognitive) definition naturally correlates to the interdisciplinary relevance of this phenomenon: a theoretically motivated (computational) model for framing is still needed, and this is precisely the goal of this workshop, which will bring together researchers from theoretical, applied and computational linguistics interested in framing analysis. Our main interest is in furthering our understanding of how different linguistic levels contribute to the framing of messages, and to pave the way for the development of linguistically-driven computational models of how people use framing to communicate their attitudes, preferences and opinions.

Call for abstracts

We invite contributions that cover all levels of linguistic analysis and methods: from phonetics (e.g., euphony: the use of repetition, alliteration, rhymes and slogans to create persuasive messages) and syntax (e.g., topicalization, passivization) to semantics (lexical choices, such as Pro-Life vs. Pro-Choice; the use of pronouns to create in- vs. out-groups; the use of metaphors; different types of implicit meaning) to pragmatics (e.g., pragmatic framing through the use of presupposition-triggering adverbs). We also invite work on experimental and computational studies on framing which employ linguistic structure to better understand instances of framing.

We invite the submission of anonymous abstracts for 30 min talks including discussion. Submissions should not exceed one page, 11pt single spaced (abstract + references), with an optional additional page for images. The reviewing process is double-blind; please ensure that the paper does not include the authors' names and affiliations. Furthermore, self-references that reveal the author's identity, e.g.,"We previously showed (Smith, 1991) ...", should be avoided. Instead, use citations such as "Smith previously showed (Smith, 1991) …".

Submission info

• Submissions open: June 1, 2023 - Aug. 25, 2023 (deadline extended -- previous: Aug 18)

• Abstract review period: Aug. 21, 2023 - Sept. 5, 2023

• Notification: September 11, 2023

• Meeting email: dgfs2024-framing@fim.uni-passau.de

Organizers

Annette Hautli-Janisz (University of Passau)

Gabriella Lapesa (GESIS Köln, HHU Düsseldorf)

Ines Rehbein (University of Mannheim)

Sponsored

Our workshop received financial support from the German Society for Computational Linguistics (GSCL). 

Workshop program

Annotation task

What we have in mind for this session is a practical exercise in which we look at various short texts and discuss types of framing / different operationalizations of framing in the texts. Read the texts and consider what kind of framing you would look at in the data and how you would want to analyze it. During the practice session, we will discuss and compare the different approaches.