Entity Namespace
Core Definition
Entity frames classify what something is — they provide the ontological category label for a concept. The primary semantic content is the entity type itself: the frame names a kind of thing, not an action, property, or relation. Entity frames are non-dynamic and non-predicating: they do not profile events, changes, or attribute assignments. The LUs in this namespace are overwhelmingly nouns (common nouns, nominal expressions) that denote classes of entities.
Formal template:
ENTITY(x) [± Type] [± Domain]
Key participants:
- Entity — the conceptual instance being categorized (the referent)
- Type — the ontological subcategory (often lexically encoded in the LU itself)
Entity frames serve primarily as referring expressions: their role is to pick out a kind of thing in the world, not to predicate something of it. This distinguishes them from Attribute frames (which say how something is) and Relational frames (which say how it is connected to something else).
Scope
Includes:
- People: médico (doctor), criança (child), atleta (athlete), migrante (migrant)
- Artifacts: carro (car), arma (weapon), recipiente (container), ferramenta (tool)
- Biological entities: animal (animal), planta (plant), patĂłgeno (pathogen)
- Body parts: mĂŁo (hand), fĂgado (liver), tendĂŁo (tendon)
- Substances: medicamento (medication), substância_tóxica (toxin), alérgeno (allergen)
- Locations: cidade (city), floresta (forest), fronteira (border), via (road)
- Organizations / Institutions: empresa (company), exército (army), hospital (hospital)
- Texts / Documents: contrato (contract), gĂŞnero_textual (text genre), lei (law)
- Temporal units: semana (week), sĂ©culo (century), perĂodo (period)
- Abstract social entities: dinheiro (money), economia (economy), idioma (language)
Excludes — see other namespaces:
- Attribute assigned to an entity → Attribute (alto, temperatura elevada)
- Static connection between entities → Relational (João tem um carro, ser filho de)
- Event or process → Eventive / Agentive / Change / Transition / Process
- Discourse-level communicative function → Pragmatic
Critical boundary — entity vs. attribute: Many nouns can appear in both entity and attribute contexts depending on grammatical role:
- O médico chegou → Entity (noun picks out an individual by category)
- João é médico → Entity (nominal predication = category assignment, not property predication)
- João é alto → Attribute (adjective predicates a scalar property)
The test: if the LU is a noun whose primary function is to NAME a type of entity, it is Entity; if the LU predicates a property or assigns a value on a scale, it is Attribute.
Subtypes
By ontological dimension (three-way classification from the existing framework):
| Dimension | Poles | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Reality | Real ↔ Supernatural | Entities with real-world referents vs. mythological, hypothetical, or imagined entities (dragão, anjo) |
| Nature | Natural ↔ Artifactual | Entities that exist without human agency vs. entities created for a purpose (árvore vs. mesa) |
| Essence | Concrete ↔ Abstract ↔ Representational | Physical entities; mental/social entities; entities that re-present others (fotografia, sĂmbolo) |
By ontological domain:
| Domain | Subframes (examples) |
|---|---|
| People | Pessoas, Pessoas_por_vocação, Pessoas_por_idade, Pessoas_por_origem, Pessoas_por_etnia, Pessoas_por_religião, Pessoas_por_enquadramento_social, Pessoas_com_deficiência, Atletas |
| Artifacts | Artefato, Arma, VeĂculo, Recipientes, Ferramentas, MĂłveis, EletroeletrĂ´nicos, Instrumentos_musicais, Brinquedos, CosmĂ©ticos, Material_escolar |
| Biological | Entidade_biológica, Animais, Plantas, Classificação_biológica, Partes_do_corpo, Substâncias_corporais |
| Substances | Substâncias, Medicamentos, Alérgenos, Patógenos, Substância_tóxica, Intoxicantes |
| Locations | Local, Locais_naturais, Locais_polĂticos, Locais_por_uso, Vias, Fronteira, Instalações_esportivas |
| Organizations | Organização, Instituições, Militar, Órgão_judicial, Órgão_de_aplicação_da_lei, Instituição_de_ensino |
| Texts / Documents | Texto, Documentos, Gênero_textual, Lei, Registro, Gênero_literário_musical_cinematográfico |
| Temporal | PerĂodo_de_tempo, Unidade_calendárica, NĂşmeros_cardinais, NĂşmeros_ordinais |
| Abstract social | Dinheiro, Economia, Capital_social, LĂnguas, Modelo_polĂtico_econĂ´mico |
| Groups | Comitiva, Comboio, Time, Torcida, Delegação, Grupo_temporário |
Characteristic signature
This frame is for words that denote highly schematic entities.
| FE | Status | Qualia role | Reading |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entity | Core | CONSTITUTIVE | the referent — "a thing (abstract or physical) that exists with some degree of permanence" |
The thinnest anchor: a single core FE. An entity frame names a kind — it neither predicates nor relates. The three classifying axes from the Entity classification guide are not FEs; they surface as the inheriting subframes:
| Axis | Surfaces as subframes such as |
|---|---|
| Reality (real ↔ supernatural) | Real_entity, Supernatural_entity |
| Nature (natural ↔ artifactual) | Biological_entity, Artifact |
| Essence (concrete ↔ abstract ↔ representational) | Physical_entity, Representation |
Already inherited by Artifact, Biological_entity, Location, Containers,
Languages, Representation, …, and used by Existence_cycle_scenario.
Layer 1 (.entity) already does most of the work for this namespace; the
anchor's contribution is mainly to root the Reality Ă— Nature Ă— Essence
inheritance tree.
Diagnostic Tests
Test 1 — Nominal head
Is the primary LU a noun (or nominal expression) denoting a class of entities?
✓ médico, carro, floresta, lei, semana → nouns naming entity types → ENTITY
✗ alto, cansado, frequente → adjectives predicating properties → NOT ENTITY (Attribute)
✗ correr, quebrar, chegar → verbs profiling events → NOT ENTITY (Agentive/Transition)
Test 2 — Category label test
Does the LU answer O que Ă© X? (What is X?) rather than Como Ă© X? or O que X faz??
✓ O que é isso? — É um recipiente. → ENTITY
✗ Como é o João? — Ele é alto. → NOT ENTITY (Attribute)
✗ O que aconteceu? — Choveu. → NOT ENTITY (Eventive)
Test 3 — Non-eventive
Does the frame apply without profiling any event, change, or action?
✓ médico (in any sentence) — names a professional category regardless of verb → ENTITY
✓ O carro está estacionado — "carro" names the entity; the stative is separate → ENTITY
✗ A porta abriu — the frame is the state-change, not the entity category → NOT ENTITY (Change)
Test 4 — Ontological dimensions
Can the entity be located on all three dimensions (Reality Ă— Nature Ă— Essence)?
✓ médico: Real / Artifactual (social role) / Concrete → ENTITY
✓ dinheiro: Real / Artifactual / Abstract → ENTITY
✓ dragão: Supernatural / Natural (in fiction) / Concrete → ENTITY
✗ alto: not an entity — it's a property → NOT ENTITY (Attribute)
Test 5 — Reference test
Does the LU serve primarily as a referring expression (picks out a class of things) rather than a predicating expression?
✓ Os animais precisam de água — "animais" refers to a biological class → ENTITY
✓ O médico chegou — "médico" picks out an individual by type → ENTITY
✗ O carro é vermelho — "vermelho" predicates a color → NOT ENTITY (Attribute)