ATLAS OF LANGUAGE

Contextual explanation · NAV-G05-023

Part

This explanation addresses the term in its originating context. It is not an additional canonical Atlas profile.

Explanation

Part here identifies one side of a part–whole relation, as expressed through meronymy and holonymy. The kind of part requires specification: a component, a temporal segment and an amount of material do not relate to their wholes in every respect alike. A set member is also not automatically a functional component in the same sense. The concept therefore calls for relational analysis. Saying that something belongs to something else establishes neither a subtype relation nor the transfer of every property of the whole to the part.

Movement of thought

1. Identify the whole. 2. Describe the kind of part. 3. Examine connection conditions. 4. Test property inheritance. 5. Compare alternative memberships.

Example

A steering wheel is a car component; one minute of a journey is a temporal segment of that journey.

Counter-test

“The car is heavy” does not entail that each of its components is heavy.

Scientific use case

Semantic analysis can distinguish part relations in dictionary descriptions.

Effect

Part relations reveal internal organisation without classifying kinds.

Resonance

Belonging does not yet say how something belongs.

Distinction

Distinguish a part from a subtype, arbitrary member and copy of the whole's properties.

Sources