Submissions:InformationObjectsAndRepresentationLanguages/Language

From Odp

Language has Category:OntologyElement and is an element of InformationObjectsAndRepresentationLanguages

Name: Language

Type: owl:Class

Description: A natural or artificial language, provided with an alphabet (or vocabulary) and combinatorial rules. In the case of natural languages, their components are 'temporary' and 'reconstructed' out of actual usage. For example, a grammar for a natural language has the status of a theory for that language, and alternative ones can exist (e.g. generative vs. construction grammars).

Another distinction, between the general (systemic) rules for a language, and the local (contextual) rules for e.g. a certain context, speaker, place, etc., can be made separately.

The most comprehensive classification of languages ha probably been made by Umberto Eco, based on the production modes of the 'signs' that are represented in a certain language. It uses several semiotic dimensions, and will be modeled in a forthcoming ontology.