Cf. functionalists, embodied language and placing language in an integrated understanding system.
In the late 1960s Charles Fillmore proposes case grammar, system of linguistic analysis which consists of semantic roles (Agent A, Object O, Beneficiary B, etc.) required by a specfic verb. E.g. verb to give in “A gave O to B”.
This was later extended to Frame Semantics, according to which lexical units evoke specific frames of semantic knowledge.
Cf. FrameNet (Ruppenhofer et al., 2016).
Embodied construction grammar in simulation-based language understanding
Cf. mainstream Construction Grammar (Goldberg 1995; Fillmore 1988; Kay and Fillmore 1999; Lakoff 1987) and Cognitive Grammar (Langacker 1991).
Foremost among these is the observation that linguistic knowledge at all levels, from morphemes to multi-word idioms, can be characterized as constructions, or pairings of form and meaning.
Source of linguistic knowledge consists of form and meaning. This approach models analysis and simulation phases.