ISO/IEC 21838-3:2023 PDF

Information technology — Top-level ontologies (TLO) — Part 3: Descriptive ontology for linguistic and cognitive engineering (DOLCE)

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Title (English):

ISO/IEC 21838-3:2023

Information technology — Top-level ontologies (TLO) — Part 3: Descriptive ontology for linguistic and cognitive engineering (DOLCE)

Document status:: Active
Format:: Electronic (PDF)
Number of pages:: 7
Publication date:: September 19, 2023
Edition:: ISO/IEC IS 21838 edition 1 version 1
ICS:: 01.040.35

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Description (English):

This document describes descriptive ontology for finguistic and cognitive engineering (DOLCE) as an ontology that is conformant to the requirements specified for top-level ontologies in ISO/IEC 21838-1. This document describes DOLCE as a resource designed to support ontology design, ontology integration, and semantic integration of heterogeneous information systems. The following are within the scope of this document: — definitions of classes and relations in the signature of DOLCE; — axiomatizations of DOLCE in OWL 2 and CL; — documentation of the conformity of DOLCE to the requirements specified for top-level ontologies in ISO/IEC 21838-1; — documentation of the methodology for specifying domain ontologies that conform to DOLCE. The following are outside the scope of this document: — specification of ontology languages, including the languages RDF, OWL, and CL standardly used in ontology development; — specification of methods for reasoning with ontologies; — specification of translators between the notations of ontologies developed in different ontology languages.

Technical details

Technical committee: ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 32 - Data management and interchange
SKU: ISO/IEC 21838-3:2023

Abstract

Overview

ISO/IEC 21838-3:2023 - "Information technology - Top-level ontologies (TLO) - Part 3: Descriptive ontology for linguistic and cognitive engineering (DOLCE)" standardizes the DOLCE top-level ontology as a resource for ontology design, ontology integration, and semantic integration of heterogeneous information systems. The standard documents DOLCE’s natural-language signature, formal axiomatizations in OWL 2 and Common Logic (CL), its modular structure, and the methodology for developing domain ontologies that conform to DOLCE. It also demonstrates conformance to the top-level ontology requirements in ISO/IEC 21838-1:2021.

Key topics and technical requirements

Scope and purpose: DOLCE is aimed at making commonsense, linguistic and cognitive categories explicit for interoperable ontology engineering.
Conformance: Domain ontologies conform if they are consistent extensions of the DOLCE axiomatization in the same formalism (OWL‑2 or CL).
Representations provided:
- Natural language documentation of DOLCE terms and relations for human maintenance.
- OWL 2 formalization to support Semantic Web applications and OWL reasoners.
- Common Logic (CL/CLIF) axiomatization to capture expressive axioms and intended models.
Modularity: The CL axiomatization is modular (e.g., Taxonomy, Mereology, Present, Dependence, Participation, Temporary Parthood, Constitution, Qualities), supporting reuse and conservative extensions.
Verification: The document provides evidence of logical consistency of the CL axiomatization and interpretability of the OWL 2 axiomatization in CL.
Breadth of coverage: DOLCE addresses core ontological themes such as space and time (endurants vs. perdurants), parts/wholes, change, qualities, processes, causality, information and social artefacts, and mental/fictional entities.
Out of scope: The standard does not specify ontology languages themselves (RDF/OWL/CL), reasoning methods, or translation tools between ontology notations.

Applications and users

Who uses it: Ontology engineers, knowledge architects, semantic integrators, data modelers, AI and NLP researchers, GIS and robotics engineers, and enterprises building interoperable semantic systems.
Practical uses:
- Designing domain ontologies that align with a shared TLO for consistent semantics.
- Integrating ontologies across domains to enable semantic interoperability.
- Supporting ontology quality control through OWL reasoners and formal CL analysis.
- Aligning enterprise data models, process models, and knowledge graphs with common upper-level categories.

Related standards

ISO/IEC 21838-1:2021 - TLO requirements (conformance baseline)
ISO/IEC 24707 - Common Logic framework (CL)
OWL 2 (W3C) - Web Ontology Language (used for DOLCE OWL formalization)

Keywords: ISO/IEC 21838-3:2023, DOLCE, top-level ontology, TLO, OWL 2, Common Logic, ontology design, semantic integration, ontology integration.

Related standards

Mentioned in the description and other ISO standards

Abstract

Overview

Key topics and technical requirements

Scope and purpose: DOLCE is aimed at making commonsense, linguistic and cognitive categories explicit for interoperable ontology engineering.
Conformance: Domain ontologies conform if they are consistent extensions of the DOLCE axiomatization in the same formalism (OWL‑2 or CL).
Representations provided:
- Natural language documentation of DOLCE terms and relations for human maintenance.
- OWL 2 formalization to support Semantic Web applications and OWL reasoners.
- Common Logic (CL/CLIF) axiomatization to capture expressive axioms and intended models.
Modularity: The CL axiomatization is modular (e.g., Taxonomy, Mereology, Present, Dependence, Participation, Temporary Parthood, Constitution, Qualities), supporting reuse and conservative extensions.
Verification: The document provides evidence of logical consistency of the CL axiomatization and interpretability of the OWL 2 axiomatization in CL.
Breadth of coverage: DOLCE addresses core ontological themes such as space and time (endurants vs. perdurants), parts/wholes, change, qualities, processes, causality, information and social artefacts, and mental/fictional entities.
Out of scope: The standard does not specify ontology languages themselves (RDF/OWL/CL), reasoning methods, or translation tools between ontology notations.

Applications and users

Who uses it: Ontology engineers, knowledge architects, semantic integrators, data modelers, AI and NLP researchers, GIS and robotics engineers, and enterprises building interoperable semantic systems.
Practical uses:
- Designing domain ontologies that align with a shared TLO for consistent semantics.
- Integrating ontologies across domains to enable semantic interoperability.
- Supporting ontology quality control through OWL reasoners and formal CL analysis.
- Aligning enterprise data models, process models, and knowledge graphs with common upper-level categories.

Related standards

ISO/IEC 21838-1:2021 - TLO requirements (conformance baseline)
ISO/IEC 24707 - Common Logic framework (CL)
OWL 2 (W3C) - Web Ontology Language (used for DOLCE OWL formalization)

Keywords: ISO/IEC 21838-3:2023, DOLCE, top-level ontology, TLO, OWL 2, Common Logic, ontology design, semantic integration, ontology integration.

ISO/IEC 21838-3:2023 PDF

Technical details

Abstract

Overview

Key topics and technical requirements

Applications and users

Related standards

Related standards

Abstract

Overview

Key topics and technical requirements

Applications and users

Related standards

Related standards

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