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The idea is to draft an ontology that:
- is based on ISO 639
- represents language capabilities using the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR)
- uses Basic Formal Ontology (BFO) as an upper level ontology
- is based on OBO Principles
- uses the Ontology Development Kit (ODK)
- is internationalized (i18n)
- can be used as a module with other ontologies
- has demonstrations for new users
- is useful to the VIVO Project
- is easily maintained
For an overview of ideas regarding the development of ontologies in the VIVO Project, please see VIVO Ontology, Version 2 which discusses principles for development.
Additional thoughts on each of these main ideas are below.
The languages in the Language Ontology are the languages of ISO 639 part 1, 2, and 3. Data from the registration authorities is used to generate language terms. Cross references are provided to the registration authority data.
The maintainers of the Language Ontology do not intend to edit the language data provided by the registration authorities.
The Common European Framework of References for Languages provides an ordered set of "levels" of language capability grouped into three broad levels -- basic user, independent user, and proficient user.
The Language Ontology represents these levels as BFO dispositions. An individual person has a disposition that concretizes a language instance.
Should BFO introduce the term "capability," as a subclass of disposition, the Language Ontology would likely make the CEFR levels capabilities.
Other capability frameworks are not incompatible with the Language Ontology and could be considered for future inclusion.
The Language Ontology is based on the Basic Formal Ontology. The Language Ontology defines a Language as a Generic Dependent Continuant. The languages of ISO 639 are represented as subclasses of Language. The instances of languages as spoken by people or used in works are individuals.
The OBO Principles provide structure for ontology developers to create reusable, modular ontologies.
The Language Ontology has been developed using the Ontology Kit, and the OBO robot tool.
The Ontology Development Toolkit codifies some best practices regarding the use of imports, templates, patterns, artifacts, verification, reporting, and human editing, and provides structure useful for the inclusion of the Language Ontology in the OBO Foundry.
robot is a tool for processing ontologies and ontology fragments. Language Ontology development, build, and release processes use robot.
See Language Ontology Development, Build, and Release Processes for additional detail regarding the use of ODK and robot.
Labels and definitions in the Language Ontology should appear in multiple languages. We rely on the ISO 639 standard to provide labels for the languages in multiple languages. Currently the ISO 639-3 registration provides only English labels for the languages that appear only in ISO 639 Part 3. For Part 1 and 2, the Library of Congress serves as the registration authority and provides labels for the Part 1 and Part 2 languages in English, French, and German. If additional language labels are provided by the registration authorities, we would expect to add them to the Language Ontology. See Internationalization in this wiki for more details.
As users of ontologies and ontology technology for more than a decade, the VIVO Project has seen the need to develop ontologies that are tightly focused on their domain, and rely on other ontologies to define terms beyond their domain.
Tightly focused ontologies, based on a common upper level ontology (BFO), developed according to common principles (the OBO Principles), and available and indexed in a findable place (the OBO Foundry) should result in "modularity" and reuse.
The demos folder at the top level contains sparql queries and their outputs showing various counts and lists made from the ontology. These attempt to answer frequently asked questions about the ontology, and are automatically updated by the build and release processes.
The Language Ontology addresses an unmet needs in the open representation of scholarship -- 1) to make assertions regarding the language capabilities of people and organizations; and 2) to make assertions regarding the languages used in scholarly works of all kinds.
We hope the Language Ontology is useful to others in other settings.
The VIVO project has LYRASIS as an organizational home, providing structure, support services, and a view to sustainability. The VIVO Project is member-supported. Please consider financial support as an organizational member of the VIVO Project.
The Language Ontology is entirely based on ISO 639. As the standard is updated, the Language Ontology will be updated. IRI in the Language Ontology will remain constant regardless of changes in the codes used within the standard to designate languages.
The Language Ontology is maintained as open source, CC0, by the VIVO Ontology Interest Group. Please open issues, create pull requests, and consider joining interest group calls.
VIVO Project (2020) Language Ontology. License CC0