Published Subject Indicators for Conceptual Graph Relation Types

PSI Metadata

Description This PSI-set formalizes Conceptual Graph Relations, taking as its definitive reference John Sowa's June 2004 version of Roles and Relations.

In XTM, these concepts are association role types. Each concept below is classified by a link to a PSI covering this usage. For PSIs denoting related types of associations, see the PSI Sets for CTM.

PublisherLexikos Corporation
EditorDan Corwin
CreatorSee attributions, below and left
Languagehttp://www.topicmaps.org/xtm/1.0/language.xtm#en
Version2004 July 29
StatusReleased for usage
Published2004 June 9

Index Of Subjects


These definitions are intended to let users of this PSI set quickly and conveniently attach a precise meaning to the URLs at right.

Most are original material for this on-line tutorial on Conceptual Graphs, from which we gratefully copied them on the publication date, by permission of their author, Ulrik Petersen.

On its Home page can also be found an excellent on-line lecture by Henrik Schärfe explaining how these types may used to build conceptual models comparable to those of English paragraphs.

To expose these relations further, Dan Corwin classified them, then added links to PSI pages redefining them as XTM role types. He also added the Amt, Matr, Med, and Strt definitions.

All of these relations are analyzed further by John Sowa in Knowledge Representation -- Logical, Philosophical, and Computational Foundations, Brooks/Cole, Pacific Grove, CA.



Page Copyright © 2004 Dan Corwin 		 

Prehension: Role; Has(Entity, Entity)

The Has relation is a primitive relation (not defined). It is used to define all of the relations in this section. It can also be used by itself. For example: 

   [Person: ]->(Has)->[Part: @2 [Leg] ]
   "All persons have as part two legs."

Component: Characteristic; Chrc(Entity,Entity)

A type whose instances are properties of entities. E.g., 

   [Rhino: Otto]->(Chrc)->[Color: Orange]
   "Otto the rhino has a characteristic which is the Color Orange."
   "Otto the rhino is orange."

Note how this contrasts with Attribute. The arc pointing away from Chrc must point to a concept which has a type whose instances are properties. For example, "Color" is a type, but not a property. Color's instances are properties, such as 'Orange' or 'Red'.

The arc pointing away from an attribute (Attr), on the other hand, must point to a concept whose type is a property, e.g., Red. Thus Attr would not point to a concept of type Color, but only to concepts with types such as 'Red', 'Good', 'Wise', 'Intelligent', 'Bad', 'Immoral', etc.

Component: Part; Part(Object,Object)

An object which is a component/part of some other object. For example: 

   [Body]->(Part)->[Leg]
   "A leg is part of a body"

There is a very important distinction between an attribute and a part: Unlike an attribute, a part is capable of existing independently. For example, a wheel is capable of existing independently of the car of which it is a part. However, if the car is white, that is an attribute of the car, which cannot exist independently of the car: 

   [Wheel: FrontLeftWheel]<-(Part)<-[Car: Alfred'sCar]
   "The front left wheel is part of Alfred's car"
   [Car: Alfred'sCar]->(Attr)->[White]
   "Alfred's car is white"
The relations above are super types of the Thematic Roles, which follow.

Focus: Theme; Thme(Situation, Entity)

A participant that may be moved, said, or experienced, but is not structurally changed. 

   [Person: Alfred]<-(Agnt)<-[Drive]->(Thme)->[Car: Alfred'sCar]
   "Alfred is driving Alfred's car"
   [Person: Juliet]<-(Agnt)<-[Say]->(Thme)->[Sentence: 'Ay me']
   "Juliet says 'Ay me'"

Focus: Result; Rslt(Process, Entity)

An inanimate goal of an act. 

   [Person: John]<-(Agnt)<-[Brew]->(Rslt)->[CupOfTea: #42]
   "John brews cup of tea '42'"

Focus: Patient; Ptnt(Process, Physical)

A participant in a process that undergoes a change during the course of the process. 

   [Knife]<-(Inst)<-[Stab]-
          ->(Agnt)->[Person: Juliet *x]
          ->(Ptnt)->[Person: ?x]
   "Juliet stabs herself with a knife"

Actor: Agent; Agnt(Act,Animate)

An active animate entity that voluntarily initiates an act. For example: 

   [Drive]->(Agnt)->[Person: Alfred]
   "Alfred drives"

Actor: Effector; Efct(Entity,Entity)

An active entity (animate or inanimate) that initiates an action, but without voluntary intention. 

   [Good]<-(Attr)<-[Tree]<-(Efct)-
               <-[Produce]->(Rslt)->[Fruit]-
                             ->(Attr)->[Much]
   "A good tree will produce much fruit"

Party: Experiencer; Expr(State, Animate)

An animate entity who experiences a state. The state is often a verb of perception, such as 'see', 'hear', 'think', 'like', 'dislike', etc. 

   [Romeo]<-(Expr)<-[Hear]->(Thme)->[Sentence: 'Ay me']
   "Romeo is the experiencer of a hearing, 
      the theme of which is the sentence 'Ay me'."
   "Romeo hears the Sentence 'Ay me'"

Party: Recipient; Rcpt(Act, Animate)

An animate goal of an act. For example: 

   [Person: Juliet]<-(Rcpt)<-[Give]-
                      ->(Agnt)->[Person: Romeo],
                      ->(Thme)->[Kiss]
   "Romeo gives Juliet a kiss"

Party: Beneficiary; Benf(Act, Animate)

A beneficiary is a recipient of some act. The beneficiary also derives a benefit from the successful completion of the act. 

   [Present: {*}]<-(Thme)<-[Give]->(Benf)->[Person: Alfred]
   "Presents are given to Alfred"

Locus: Location; Loc(Physical, Physical)

The place where something is or takes place. 

   [Person: Prince]<-(Agnt)<-[Arrive]->(Loc)->[Location: Vault]
   "The prince arrives at the vault."

Locus: Path; Path(Process,Place)

A path describing a process.

For example:

   [Salesman: #]<-(Agnt)<-[Travel]->(Path)->[City: {Frederikshavn, Aalborg, Aars}]
   "The salesman travels via Frederikshavn, Aalborg, and Aars"

Locus: Origin; Orgn(Process, Physical)

A physical participant in a process which is the source or originator of the process. For example:

   [Act : Take]-
     ->(Agnt)->[Person : Mary]
     ->(Orgn)->[Person : John]
     ->(Thme)->[Book : #]
   "Take is an act which has 
       an agent, which is Mary,
       and an origin, which is John,
       and a theme, which is the book."
   "Mary takes the book from John"
   [Appendix : #]<-(Thme)<-[Begin]->(Orgn)->[Page: 492]
   "The appendix is a theme of begin, which has an origin, which is page 492."
   "The appendix begins on page 492."

Locus: Destination; Dest(SpatialProcess, Physical)

A goal of a process whose major tenet is that it is spatial (i.e., occurs in space). For example: 

   [Person: Romeo]<-(Agnt)<-[Go]->(Dest)->[City: Mantua]
   "Romeo is going to Mantua"

Timing: PointInTime; PTim(Physical, Time)

An essential participant of a temporal togetherness (nexus).

For example:

   [Time: 5:13am]<-(PTim)<-[Situation: [Person: Romeo]<-(Agnt)<-[Leave]]
   "At 5:13am, Romeo leaves."

Timing: Duration; Dur(State,Interval)

The interval in which a state exists. For example: 

   [Movie]<-(Thme)<-[Show]->(Dur)->[Interval: @120 min]
   "The movie showed for 120 minutes"

Timing: Start; Strt(Entity,Time)

A determinant source of a temporal nexus.

For examples see Thematic Roles

Timing: Completion; Cmpl(TemporalProcess, Physical)

A goal of a completed process whose major tenet is that it takes place over time. This can, e.g., be a state or a situation. 

   [Clothes]<-(Ptnt)<-[Process: Dry]->(Cmpl)->[State: Dry]
   "Clothes are drying until they are dry"

Means: Instrument; Inst(Act, Entity)

An instrument used in an act. The instrument is not changed by the activity. 

   [Knife]<-(Inst)<-[Stab]-
          ->(Agnt)->[Person: Juliet *x]
          ->(Ptnt)->[Person: ?x]
   "Juliet stabs herself with a knife"

Means: Matter; Matr(Act,Substance)

A resource that is changed by the event.

For examples see Thematic Roles

Means: Medium; Med(Transfer,Physical)

A physical resource for transmitting information, such as the sound of speech or the electromagnetic signals that transmit data.

For examples see Thematic Roles

Correlative: Possession; Poss(Animate,Entity)

An entity owned by some animate being.

For example: 

   [Car: *x]<-(Thme)<-[Drive]->(Agnt)-
             ->[Person: Alfred]->(Poss)->[Car: ?x]
   "There is a car, x, which is the theme of drive, which has an agent,
    which is Alfred, which is the possessor of a car, x."
   "Alfred is driving his car"
The relations below model Properties. Those above model parts of Situations.

Property: Attribute; Attr(Object,Entity)

An entity that is a property of some object. For example: 

   [Rhino: Otto]->(Attr)->[Orange]
   "Otto the rhino has an attribute which is orange."
   "Otto the rhino is orange."

Note how this contrasts with Characteristic.

Property: Measure; Meas(Attribute, Quantity)

A quantity used to describe an attribute. In English, the attribute will often be an adjective such as "clever", "fat", "long", "beautiful", etc. The quantity will either be a measure or a degree or the like. For example:

   [Person: John]->(Attr)->[Clever]->(Meas)->[Degree: #very]
   "John is very clever"
   [Person: James]->(Attr)->[Tall]->(Meas)->[Measure: <187,cm>]
   "James has an attribute which is tall, whose measure is 187 cm."
   "James is 187 cm tall"

Property: Amount; Amt(Characteristic,Quantity)

A quantity used as a measure of some characteristic. The first argument of the Amt relation is a characteristic, which is usually expressed by a noun, such as length, height, weight, age, speed, or temperature.

For examples see Roles & Relations

Property: Manner; Manr(Process, Entity)

An entity that is a property of some process. In English, we often use adverbs to describe manners, e.g., quickly, slowly, tentatively. For example: 

   [Researcher: Alfred]<-(Agnt)<-[Suggest]-
                    ->(Thme)->[Definition: #2.3]
                    ->(Manr)->[Tentative]
   "Alfred the researcher tentatively suggested definition 2.3"