The most basic classification of ATTRIBUTEs is into SCALAR-ATTRIBUTEs and LITERAL-ATTRIBUTEs depending on whether their fillers are continuous numerical values or discrete literal symbols. SCALAR-ATTRIBUTEs are divided into SCALAR-OBJECT-ATTRIBUTEs and SCALAR-EVENT-ATTRIBUTEs but there are also many other siblings at the same level. Work to reorganize some of these areas of the ontology is ongoing at this time. Significant subtrees under SCALAR-OBJECT-ATTRIBUTEs include SCALAR-PHYSICAL-OBJECT-ATTRIBUTE (which includes the important class of SCALAR-ARTIFACT-ATTRIBUTEs) and SCALAR-SOCIAL-ATTRIBUTE (which includes important classes such as SCALAR-SOCIAL-OBJECT-ATTRIBUTEs, SCALAR-FINANCIAL-OBJECT-ATTRIBUTEs, and SCALAR-SOCIAL-ROLE-ATTRIBUTEs).
LITERAL-ATTRIBUTEs are classified into BINARY-ATTRIBUTEs, LITERAL-OBJECT-ATTRIBUTEs, LITERAL-EVENT-ATTRIBUTEs, and PERCEPTUAL-ATTRIBUTEs. LITERAL-OBJECT-ATTRIBUTEs are further subdivided into MENTAL-OBJECT-ATTRIBUTEs, PHYSICAL-OBJECT-ATTRIBUTEs, and SOCIAL-OBJECT-ATTRIBUTEs. Some subtrees under SOCIAL-OBJECT-ATTRIBUTEs are currently shared with SCALAR-SOCIAL-OBJECT-ATTRIBUTEs due to unresolved problems with the Mikrokarat acquisition tool. The ATTRIBUTE ontology is shown in Figure 13.
Figure 13:
Parts of the Classification of Attributes in the Ontology.
Kavi Mahesh