Domain Namespace

One of three namespaces that replace the former Situation (@situation) namespace, together with @scenario and @image_schema. Domain is the new member: the former Situation doc barely described it. It collects the broad fields of knowledge (frames named with the Domain: prefix) that group other frames thematically.

Note for later completion. This description is preliminary. Domain's conceptual boundary — especially against @scenario and against the ontology of frame-grouping in general — should be firmed up once its role is reviewed alongside the relocated frames.

Core Definition

Domain frames name a broad field of knowledge or area of experience — Law, Health, Economy, Motion, Time, the Social world — under which many more specific frames are organized. A Domain frame does not profile a token event, a property, or a relation; it provides a thematic grouping node: an organizing category that other frames inherit from or are situated within.

Formal template:

DOMAIN(Field) — organizes ⟶ { frames situated in the field }

Key properties:

• Field-level: names an area of knowledge/experience, not an occurrence
• Organizational: functions primarily as a grouping / inheritance root
• Non-predicating: it neither asserts an event nor ascribes a property to an entity
• Prefix convention: realized in the inventory as Domain:* frames (Domain:Law, Domain:Health, Domain:Motion)

Scope

Includes (from the Domain:* inventory):

• Fields of the physical world: Domain:Physical, Domain:Matter, Domain:Object, Domain:Motion, Domain:Physical_transformation, Domain:Natural_phenomena, Domain:Location
• Fields of the biological / bodily world: Domain:Biological, Domain:Biological_entity, Domain:Body, Domain:Life_process, Domain:Physiological_functions, Domain:Ecology
• Fields of the social / institutional world: Domain:Social, Domain:Social_roles, Domain:Government, Domain:Law, Domain:Economy, Domain:Organizations, Domain:Health
• Fields of artifacts and abstractions: Domain:Artifacts, Domain:Time

Excludes — see other namespaces:

• A multi-event, role-and-phase scenario type → Scenario (Commerce_scenario)
• A spatial primitive / topological schema → Image_schema (Source_path_goal)
• A token entity that belongs to a field → Entity (médico, hospital)
• A property or attribute → Attribute; an event → Eventive / Agentive / etc.

Critical boundary — Domain vs. Entity: A Domain frame names the field (Domain:Health); an Entity frame names a thing in that field (hospital, médico, medicamento). Domain is the classificatory area; Entity is a member of it.

Critical boundary — Domain vs. Scenario: A Domain names a field of knowledge that groups frames thematically; a Scenario names a configuration of roles and phases for a situation type. Domain:Law is the legal field; Crime_scenario is a specific legal situation scaffold within it.

Subtypes

(Grouped by the area of knowledge the field belongs to; to be refined on review.)

Diagnostic Tests

Test 1 — Field-level, not token

Does the frame name a field of knowledge rather than a specific event, entity, property, or relation?

✓ Domain:Law — names the legal field → DOMAIN
✗ O juiz condenou o réu — a token causative event → NOT DOMAIN (Agentive)
✗ hospital — a token entity within a field → NOT DOMAIN (Entity)

Test 2 — Grouping / organizing role

Does the frame primarily serve to group or root other frames thematically, rather than to predicate something?

✓ Domain:Health organizes Doença, Tratamento, Sintoma, … → DOMAIN
✗ Doença (a specific condition) → NOT DOMAIN (Eventive / Stative)

Test 3 — Not a role/phase scaffold

Is the frame a broad field rather than a configuration of participants and phases?

✓ Domain:Economy (a field) → DOMAIN
✗ Commerce_scenario (buyer, seller, goods, payment — a scaffold) → NOT DOMAIN (Scenario)

Test 4 — Non-predicating

Does the frame apply without asserting an event or ascribing a property?

✓ Domain:Time — names the temporal field, asserts nothing → DOMAIN
✗ A reunião durou duas horas — predicates a duration → NOT DOMAIN (Attribute / Eventive)