Ontology
comment: Imports: Extended DnS
comment: A minimal ontology of information objects and communication theory, plugin to DnS. OWL engineering by Aldo Gangemi.
imports: ExtendedDnS.owl
version info: 397

formal-system
type: Class
comment: A code that orders the generation of information objects according to formally defined vocabulary, axioms, rules, etc.
subclass of: information-encoding-system
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: orders
  all values from: formal-expression

grapheme
type: Class
subclass of: Restriction
  some values from: word
  on property: part-of
subclass of: Restriction
  all values from: writing
  on property: realized-by
comment: A part of a word as it can be realized by writing. A spoken information realization can be 'about' a grapheme (as in reading), but it does not 'realize' it. BTW, since spoken realizations are a 'primary' code of communication, the difference between direct and indirect spoken realizations (reading) is often ontologically understated. A grapheme is not necessarily able to express a meaning (description), although it can in principle (e.g. 'a' in English).
subclass of: linguistic-object

word
type: Class
subclass of: linguistic-object
comment: A linguistic object consisting of a string (independently of its physical realization). Its topological unity can change according to its physical realization: as a written realization, its boundaries are blank spaces, as a spoken realization, sometimes is silence, sometimes not, and higher order features intervene. Grammatical entities such as nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc. are roles defined by a grammar, and words (or larger linguistic objects) can play those roles in a given language. E.g., the word 'share' can play both 'verb' and 'noun' roles in contemporary English, while the word 'come' can only play the 'verb' role in English, and the 'adverb' or 'conjunction' roles in Italian (but if we consider a word as only realized by phonemes, i.e. if we consider the oral realizations of 'come', there is no common word in the two languages).

writing
type: Class
subclass of: Restriction
  some values from: linguistic-object
  on property: realizes
subclass of: information-realization
comment: An information realization based on conventional symbols. It is a secondary code of communication (secondary means that it is about an original bodily expression, i.e. a primary code). Therefore, we are not considering here early forms of iconic expression, which could be considered primary.

linguistic-object
type: Class
comment: An information object ordered by (encoded according to) a language.
subclass of: information-object
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: ordered-by
  some values from: language

information-realization
type: Class
equivalent class: Class
  intersection of: physical-realization
  intersection of: Restriction
    some values from: information-object
    on property: realizes
comment: Any physical entity that realizes an information object.

text
type: Class
subclass of: Restriction
  some values from: language
  on property: ordered-by
comment: A complex linguistic object, expressed according to a language and still independent from a particular physical realization.
subclass of: linguistic-object

semiotic-role
type: Class
subclass of: role
comment: A semiotic role is a non-agentive role defined by the interpretation function.It should be specialized within a communication setting by a role that is played by some entity in a communication situation. Semiotic roles are used to fill the universe of the so-called 'interpretation function'.Two of them are specialized by two communication roles (message and context).
subclass of: Restriction
  some values from: communication-role
  on property: specialized-by

communication-role
type: Class
subclass of: role
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: d-used-by
  some values from: Class
    one of: s-communication-theory
comment: The roles employed to characterize communication. E.g. the roles from Jakobson's theory of communication.

communication-situation
type: Class
comment: Any situation that satisfies Jakobson's communication theory.
equivalent class: Class
  intersection of: situation
  intersection of: Restriction
    some values from: Class
      one of: s-communication-theory
    on property: satisfies

s-communication-theory
type: theory
defines: c-context
comment: Jakobson defined six functions of communication that are compatible with Shannon's theory of information. They are the 'message', here covered by 'Message-Role', the context, covered here by 'C-Context', the code, covered by 'Code', plus 'Channel', 'Encoder', and 'Decoder', which are introduced below. Message-Role, C-Context, and Code can also be viewed as playing a semiotic role (Expression, S-Context, Semiotic-Code). For a communication theory in general, we also need other components that are not specified in Jakobson's theory', e.g. 'turn-taking', governing the sequence of a communication process, 'communication parameters', governing the values that participants and events of a communication should have in order for the communication to be successful (i.e. for the communication method to be satisfied), 'conversational maxims' (superordered theories) that provide guidelines for communication to be successful, etc.
defines: interpreter-role
defines: message-role
defines: channel-role
defines: code-role

c-context
type: description-role
defined-by: s-communication-theory
comment: The context role in Jakobson's theory of communication.
type: Restriction
  on property: played-by
  all values from: description
type: communication-role

interpreter-role
type: communication-role
specialized-by: encoder-role
defined-by: s-communication-theory
type: agent-driven-role
comment: A generalization of the encoder and decoder roles in Jakobson's theory of communication, which should be played by an agent.
specialized-by: decoder-role

encoder-role
type: agent-driven-role
specializes: interpreter-role
defined-by: semiotic-interpretation-function
comment: A specialization of the interpreter role, played by creators of information objects expressing some description.
type: communication-role

semiotic-interpretation-function
type: relation
defines: decoder-role
defines: s-context
comment: Interpretation functions are descriptions that can include roles either for semiotics or for formal semantics.Here we only characterize a basic, simple theory of semiotic interpretation. Three semiotic roles are defined: s-context (semiotic context), expression, and meaning.It has complex dependencies to mental objects, social objects, as well as references to entities as such, but we currently prefer to put it here as a placeholder (a forthcoming ontology of mind should give some more detail on those issues). See semiotic roles for further comments.
defines: encoder-role
defines: meaning
defines: expression

decoder-role
type: communication-role
comment: A specialization of the interpreter role, played by the agents trying to conceive the description expressed by some information object created by agents playing the encoder role.
specializes: interpreter-role
defined-by: semiotic-interpretation-function
type: agent-driven-role

s-context
type: description-role
defined-by: semiotic-interpretation-function
type: semiotic-role
comment: S-context (semiotic context) is played by descriptions and is a semiotic role. It is used to fill the second domain of the so-called 'interpretation function'.It may be equivalent to the 'c-context' communication role, but since communication theory and semiotic theories are different, it is more correct to say that c-context (communication context) specializes s-context.
type: Restriction
  all values from: description
  on property: played-by
type: Restriction
  on property: requires
  some values from: Class
    one of: c-context

meaning
type: semiotic-role
defined-by: semiotic-interpretation-function
type: Restriction
  on property: played-by
  all values from: description
type: description-role
comment: Meaning is a semiotic role played by descriptions whatsoever. It is used to fill the range of the so-called 'interpretation function'.It is not equivalent to any communication function.

expression
defined-by: semiotic-interpretation-function
type: Restriction
  all values from: information-object
  on property: played-by
type: semiotic-role
comment: Expression is a semiotic role played by information objects. It is used to fill the first domain of the so-called 'interpretation function'. It can be considered equivalent to the 'message' communication role, but since communication theory and semiotic theories are different, it is more correct to say that a message role specializes an expression role.

message-role
type: communication-role
comment: The message role in Jakobson's theory of communication, played by information objects. It specializes the expression role from semiotic interpretation theory.
type: Restriction
  all values from: information-object
  on property: played-by
defined-by: s-communication-theory

channel-role
type: Restriction
  all values from: physical-endurant
  on property: played-by
comment: The channel role in Jakobson's theory of communication.
defined-by: s-communication-theory
type: communication-role

code-role
type: description-role
defined-by: s-communication-theory
type: communication-role
type: Restriction
  on property: played-by
  all values from: information-encoding-system
comment: The code role in Jakobson's theory of communication, which should be played by an information-encoding-system.

semiotic-code
type: Class
comment: A combinatorial code intended to ordering of information objects involved in the semiotic 'interpretation function'.
subclass of: combinatorial-system

voicing
type: Class
subclass of: information-realization
subclass of: Class
  intersection of: action
  intersection of: Restriction
    some values from: agentive-physical-object
    on property: participant
comment: An information realization based on conventional sounds. It is a primary code of communication (primary means that it is an original bodily expression, specially if firstly learnt).
subclass of: action
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: setting
  some values from: communication-situation
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: realizes
  some values from: linguistic-object

interpretation-situation
type: Class
comment: The class of situations that satisfy the semiotic interpretation function (given an expression and a context, a meaning is provided).
equivalent class: Class
  intersection of: situation
  intersection of: Restriction
    on property: satisfies
    some values from: Class
      one of: semiotic-interpretation-function

grammar
type: Class
comment: A set of rules for the generation of a (closed or open set of) information objects.
subclass of: combinatorial-system

combinatorial-system
type: Class
comment: An information encoding system that provides roles and operations to create valid information objects (e.g. grammars, templates, codes).
subclass of: Restriction
  all values from: information-object
  on property: orders
subclass of: information-encoding-system

subject
type: Class
comment: A domain of knowledge, typically expressed by one term, related to other subjects in a partial order hierarchy and with some topological properties; e.g. biology, sport, politics.
subclass of: description

phoneme
type: Class
subclass of: Restriction
  all values from: voicing
  on property: realized-by
comment: A part of a word as it can be realized by voicing. A written information realization can be 'about' a phoneme (as in the case of transcription systems), but it does not 'realize' it. A phoneme is not necessarily able to express a meaning (description), although it can in principle (e.g. 'a' in English).
subclass of: linguistic-object
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: part-of
  some values from: word

iconic-object
type: Class
subclass of: information-object
comment: An information object ordered by a visual code.

morpheme
type: Class
equivalent class: Class
  intersection of: Restriction
    on property: part-of
    some values from: word
  intersection of: linguistic-object
  intersection of: Restriction
    min cardinality: 1
    on property: expresses
comment: A part of a word that can express a meaning.

diagrammatic-object
type: Class
comment: An information object ordered by a shematic iconic code
subclass of: information-object

gesturing
type: Class
subclass of: Class
  intersection of: action
  intersection of: Restriction
    some values from: agentive-physical-object
    on property: participant
subclass of: action
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: setting
  some values from: communication-situation
subclass of: information-realization
comment: An information realization based on conventional body movements. It is a primary code of communication (primary means that it is an original bodily expression, specially if firstly learnt).

classification-system
type: Class
subclass of: Restriction
  some values from: information-object
  on property: involves
comment: An information encoding system that provides rules for (ev. ordered) lists of information objects, e.g terminologies, subjects, knowledge domains.
subclass of: information-encoding-system

narrative
type: Class
comment: A description expressed by a text, and ordered by additional semiotic codes (narratological structures).
subclass of: Restriction
  on property: expressed-by
  some values from: text
subclass of: description

identifies
type: ObjectProperty
comment: Being about an antity with the main purpose of conventionally naming that entity. Typically, proper nouns identify entities.
sub property of: about
inverse of: identified-by

refers-to
type: ObjectProperty
comment: Referring to something is assumed here under a 'negotiated reference' approach, i.e. agents refer to entities by conceiving a description appropriate to context.
sub property of: mediated-relation
domain: agent
inverse of: referred-by
range: particular

q-represents
type: ObjectProperty
range: region
domain: information-object
sub property of: mediated-relation
comment: This relation supports the representation of conceptual regions by information objects. It is defined as a composed relation: an information object is expressed according to an information encoding description that maps a quality space. In other words, this means that a representation of conceptual regions within quality spaces requires an explicit conceptualization of the dimensions operating in the quality space. In still other words, a quality space can be mapped to a theory, which can be reified as a special kind of 'information encoding description'.
inverse of: q-represented-by

prototype
type: ObjectProperty
comment: The relation between an entity (playing the role of example, sample, prototype, master, etc.), and another that has all the properties of the first (or a given set of them), except space-time.
range: particular
sub property of: immediate-relation
domain: particular
inverse of: prototype-for

broader-than
type: ObjectProperty
sub property of: proper-part
range: subject
domain: subject
comment: The proper part relation between subjects.
inverse of: narrower-than