The Ontology is presented as a hierarchical catalogue of the concepts that a person has in mind, so here is where semantic knowledge is stored in the form of meaning postulates. The Ontology consists of a general-purpose module (i.e. Core Ontology) and several domain-specific terminological modules (i.e. Satellite Ontologies).

 

A- Conceptual elements

The Core Ontology distinguishes three different conceptual levels, each one of them with concepts of a different type:

 

(i) Metconcepts cover all universal cognitive categories (e.g. #ABSTRACT, #MOTION, #POSSESSION or #TEMPORAL), which are distributed in three subontologies: #ENTITY, #EVENT and #QUALITY.

 

(ii) Basic concepts (e.g. +BUILD_00, +COLD_00, +FEEL_00 or +WINDOW_00) are used as defining units which enable the construction of meaning postulates for basic concepts and terminals, as well as taking part as selection preferences in thematic frames.

 

(iii) Terminals (e.g. $AMAZE_00, $BARGAIN_00, $SCRAMBLE_00 or $SUBLIMINAL_00) are those concepts which lack definitory potential to take part in the FunGramKB meaning postulates.

 

B- Conceptual properties

Concepts in the FunGramKB Ontology are not stored as atomic symbols but are provided with semantic properties, some of them in the form of knowledge schemata:

 

(i) A thematic frame is a conceptual construct which states the number and type of participants involved in the prototypical cognitive situation portrayed by an event or quality. Thematic frames can also include those selectional preferences typically involved in the cognitive situation.

 

(ii) A meaning postulate is a set of one or more logically connected carrying the generic features of concepts.

Thematic frames are fully integrated into meaning postulates, becoming two sides of the same coin.

 

 

C- Conceptual relations

Subsumption is the only valid taxonomic relation in the whole FunGramKB Ontology.