Kavi Mahesh
Computing Research Laboratory
New Mexico State University
Las Cruces, NM 88003-8001
(505) 646-5466
(505) 646-6218 (FAX)
mahesh@crl.nmsu.edu
The purpose of this Appendix is to familiarize the reader with the
basic organization of various concepts in the
K ontology by
describing its ``road map.'' In what follows, we describe the top few
levels of classification in the ontology as well as some of the
significant subtrees below them. Some guidelines for distinguishing
between the different siblings at the top levels are included in the
accompanying report by Mahesh and Wilson (1995). We hope the ``guided
tour'' presented here will make it easier for lexicographers and other
users to search for concepts in the ontology.
Figure:
Top-Level Hierarchy of the Mikrokosmos Ontology Showing the
First Three Levels of the OBJECT, EVENT, and PROPERTY Taxonomies.
All entities in the
K
ontology are classified into free-standing entities
and
PROPERTYs. This topmost classification is based on the
distinction between individual meaning elements and those that merely
modify other meaning elements. In their ``normal'' usage, free-standing
concepts are instantiated to add individual frames to meaning
representations while properties add new slots to free-standing
instances (unless a reification operator is applied to force a
property to become a frame unto itself in the meaning representation).