A model for the semantics of noun classes: MODAN

We had this idea of developing a modular ontology about the semantics of noun classes for Niger-Congo B (‘Bantu’) languages and make it a module in an existing network of ontology modules about linguistics. We tried. We also tried to take a top-down approach taking a foundational ontology as the starting point. That didn’t work out either. We ended up having to do it the hard way with a manual bottom-up approach poring over the subject domain literature (linguistics), informed by ontology and ontologies, and scoping it to be aimed for annotations. The result? We’d liked to have called the artefact an ontology, but weren’t quite comfortable to do so just yet, even after two years of on-and-off development, although if I were less informed about ontologies, I probably would have called the logic-based model an ontology. You may wonder: What is really the problem, why would it need to be solved, why didn’t the initial solution strategies work, and what’s the benefit of the new model?…

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