Hi All:
This LDOCE will be quite useful in my own ontology
work, to include providing a useful base vocabulary for current and future
enterprise architectures.
As a reminder, my company takes a
simplifying approach to EA by synthesizing EA, Ontologies, and model driven
architecture (MDA) into a single package that provides a simple and consistent
EA methodology and metaschema using ontology-modeling and knowledge-management
technology.
Our approach to EA treats the applied EA
Framework (documented as an OMG MDA M1 layer metamodel) as an
enterprise-specific ontology, and the resulting EA is a knowledge base (documented
as an M0 layer metamodel).
The mechanism to provide ontology
integration/merging/linking is at the M2 and M3 layer metamodel levels, which
we refer to as our “general ontology”. The nouns and
noun-phrases of the enterprise’s raw vocabulary (extracted from the file/database/directory/message-stores
of enterprise user) and this LDOCE and other relevant dictionaries (e.g.,
medical, IT, legal) are loaded into the M2 layer metamodel for categorization into
our seven reference catalogs (generalized taxonomies) of: location,
organization, organization unit, function, process, or requirement/mission.
These nouns are then related through the M3 layer metamodel by seven relation
types (i.e., categorization beyond the M2 reference catalogs, containment, sequence,
change, equivalence as for thesauri, variance, and reference) which classify
the relating verbs and verb-phrases from the enterprise raw vocabulary and
LDOCE/dictionaries.
This is further described at http://colab.cim3.net/forum//ontac-forum/2005-10/msg00058.html.
Roy
From: ontac-forum-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:ontac-forum-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Cassidy, Patrick J.
Sent: Saturday, October 15, 2005
7:00 PM
To: ONTAC-WG
General Discussion
Subject: [ontac-forum] A potential
defining vocabulary for definitions
ONTACWG members:
I have placed a file containing the
defining vocabulary from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (LDOCE)
in the reference folder at:
http://colab.cim3.net/file/work/SICoP/ontac/reference/LDOCE-definingVocabularyList.txt
This is the set of words (about 2200) used
by Longman to define all of the 56,000 words and phrases in its
dictionary. That dictionary is intended to be understandable by those
learning English, and the editors made a conscious effort to write clearly
understandable definitions using the minimum vocabulary. Many of the
words are used in more than one sense, as with words that have multiple parts
of speech; the actual number of senses used may be more than 4000. This
is an example of the practice of specifying the meanings of terms or concepts
using a relatively small set of defining concepts. This is analogous to
the process by which we hope the Common Semantic Model (COSMO) will enable
semantic interoperability of knowledge-based systems built by different groups,
by providing a common conceptual defining vocabulary that will be independent
of the terms used in community knowledge classification systems, but capable of
precisely specifying the meanings of the community terms..
The Longman defining vocabulary could also
serve as a starting point for the development of an English defining vocabulary
for ONTACWG, which could be used to make it easier to create logically precise
definitions, and assertions of fact. There are several
"Controlled English" programs that have been used to make logical
statements in an English-like grammar. If we have a vocabulary of words
with precisely defined meanings, it should be possible to allow definitions to
be phrased in normal but moderately restricted English, and be interpreted
correctly by the translator program. Some ambiguity in the defining
vocabulary should be resolvable by the lexical context, but it is possible that
the full range of meanings actually used in the LDOCE will be too wide to be
resolvable, and the "defining vocabulary" or the grammar for defining
terms in ONTACWG databases may need to be more restricted than the language the
editors of LDOCE use.
As with the COSMO, an English
"Defining vocabulary" would be open to additions as required to
accommodate the needs of the different communities. It will always be
convenient for specialized communities to use terms with specific meanings in
their contexts of interest, including very technical terms. If those
terms themselves could be defined by both the logical specifications of the
COSMO and the restricted vocabulary of an ONTACWG "English defining
vocabulary", they would constitute specialized extensions of the COSMO and
English vocabularies. Then natural English definitions even in those
technical areas could be created with accurately interpretable meanings.
Attempting to create definitions of
community-specific terms using such a defining vocabulary could help to
recognize when the logical concept inventory of the COSMO is inadequate and
needs supplementation, if it becomes necessary to use English terms that have
no associated concept in the COSMO. Prima facie cases like that could
allow domain specialists with only modest familiarity with the COSMO to help
the maintenance team to decide which extensions should have greatest
priority. Simple tools like a spell-checker using only the defining
vocabulary as its dictionary would help in using that vocabulary for creating
precise definitions.
It is likely that similar controlled
natural language vocabularies and grammars could be created for other
languages, but I myself have no acquaintance with such work.
To use an existing controlled-language
system to create definitions for the ONTACWG would require adaptation of such a
system to reference the COSMO ontology. This may take considerable
effort, so it will probably be necessary to find projects that are ongoing and
for which someone who is familiar with the system will be able to spend some
time doing the adaptation. If any ONTACWG members are acquainted with
such a project, perhaps an inquiry to the developers would provide us with
information to determine the feasibility of adaptation in each case. I
will be happy to participate in discussions of such a possibility. Feel
free to send suggestions to me directly, or to the list.
Pat
Patrick
Cassidy
MITRE Corporation
260 Industrial Way
Eatontown, NJ 07724
Mail Stop: MNJE
Phone: 732-578-6340
Cell: 908-565-4053
Fax: 732-578-6012
Email: pcassidy at mitre.org