Meronomy
Encyclopedia
A meronomy is a type of hierarchy
that deals with part-whole relationships, in contrast to a taxonomy
whose categorisation is based on discrete sets. These conceptual structures are used in linguistics
and computer science
, with applications in biology
. The part-whole relationship is sometimes referred to as HAS-A, and corresponds to object composition in Object-Oriented Programming
. The study of meronomy is known as mereology
, and in linguistics a meronym is the name given to a constituent part of, the substance of, or a member of something. X is a meronym of Y if X is a part of Y.
Engines have parts Crankcase, Carburetor
Headlights have parts headlight bulb, reflector
and ontologies, a meronomy is a partial ordering of concept types by the part-whole relation.
The classic study of parts and wholes, mereology
, has three axioms: the part-of relation
is
Meronomies may be represented in Semantic Web
languages such as OWL
and SKOS
.
Hierarchy
A hierarchy is an arrangement of items in which the items are represented as being "above," "below," or "at the same level as" one another...
that deals with part-whole relationships, in contrast to a taxonomy
Taxonomy
Taxonomy is the science of identifying and naming species, and arranging them into a classification. The field of taxonomy, sometimes referred to as "biological taxonomy", revolves around the description and use of taxonomic units, known as taxa...
whose categorisation is based on discrete sets. These conceptual structures are used in linguistics
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
and computer science
Computer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
, with applications in biology
Biology
Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...
. The part-whole relationship is sometimes referred to as HAS-A, and corresponds to object composition in Object-Oriented Programming
Object-oriented programming
Object-oriented programming is a programming paradigm using "objects" – data structures consisting of data fields and methods together with their interactions – to design applications and computer programs. Programming techniques may include features such as data abstraction,...
. The study of meronomy is known as mereology
Mereology
In philosophy and mathematical logic, mereology treats parts and the wholes they form...
, and in linguistics a meronym is the name given to a constituent part of, the substance of, or a member of something. X is a meronym of Y if X is a part of Y.
Example
Cars have parts Engine, Headlight, WheelEngines have parts Crankcase, Carburetor
Headlights have parts headlight bulb, reflector
Meronomies in Knowledge Representation
In formal terms, in the context of knowledge representationKnowledge representation
Knowledge representation is an area of artificial intelligence research aimed at representing knowledge in symbols to facilitate inferencing from those knowledge elements, creating new elements of knowledge...
and ontologies, a meronomy is a partial ordering of concept types by the part-whole relation.
The classic study of parts and wholes, mereology
Mereology
In philosophy and mathematical logic, mereology treats parts and the wholes they form...
, has three axioms: the part-of relation
Relation (mathematics)
In set theory and logic, a relation is a property that assigns truth values to k-tuples of individuals. Typically, the property describes a possible connection between the components of a k-tuple...
is
- Transitive - "parts of parts are parts of the whole" - If A is part of B and B is part of C, then A is part of C
- Reflexive - "Everything is part of itself" - A is part of A
- Antisymmetric - "Nothing is a part of its parts" - if A is part of B and A != B then B is not part of A.
Meronomies may be represented in Semantic Web
Semantic Web
The Semantic Web is a collaborative movement led by the World Wide Web Consortium that promotes common formats for data on the World Wide Web. By encouraging the inclusion of semantic content in web pages, the Semantic Web aims at converting the current web of unstructured documents into a "web of...
languages such as OWL
Web Ontology Language
The Web Ontology Language is a family of knowledge representation languages for authoring ontologies.The languages are characterised by formal semantics and RDF/XML-based serializations for the Semantic Web...
and SKOS
SKOS
Simple Knowledge Organization System is a family of formal languages designed for representation of thesauri, classification schemes, taxonomies, subject-heading systems, or any other type of structured controlled vocabulary. SKOS is built upon RDF and RDFS, and its main objective is to enable...
.