Towards a Heuristic Typology of Frames qua Frames: Operationalising Frame Analysis across Domains, Media and Modes

Frames have extensively been studied as perceptual and representational categories whereby humans make sense of the world and are able to share meanings. They also function as handles, or activators of ideational contents: it is precisely through frames that ideation becomes processable and sharable. Scarcer attention, however, has been devoted to the surface features of those handles, and how they contribute to establishing sets of expectations against which texts and meanings are interpreted and exchanged. This contribution focusses on the latter realisation of frames and, more specifically, looks at something we propose to label ‘Frames qua Frames’ (FqFs). Typically, frames are triggered by semiotic elements made available in the early stages of the processing of the text – or easily retrievable from skimming its surface presentation. They favour textual interpretation and social interaction but, once they are active, they are backgrounded in one’s perception and cognition. In the case of FqFs, instead, the semiotic mechanisms of frame instantiation are foregrounded and made metatextually explicit as FqFs reflecting the recipient’s expectations in regard to textualisation of the communicative act. In this paper, we look at how FqFs are exploited differently in different domains, communication types, media and modes. More specifically, we will see when, in what way and for what purposes FqFs are used as economic (or adaptive) resources and as energetic (or attractive) resources.