Universal Attributes

Attributes are arcs linking a node to itself. In opposition to relations, they correspond to one-place predicates, i.e., functions that take a single argument. In UNL, attributes have been normally used to represent information conveyed by natural language grammatical categories (such as tense, mood, aspect, number, etc). The set of attributes, which is claimed to be universal, is defined in the UNL Specs and is not open to frequent additions.

Syntax

The syntax of attributes is defined as follows:

<attribute>	::=	"@"<attribute name>
<attribute name>	::=	<character>...
<character>	::=	{“a”,...,“z”,“_”}

where:
< > variable
" " terminal symbol
::=... is defined as ...
{ } disjunction ("or")
... to be repeated more than 0 times

Attribute names are always lower case words or expressions. Normally, English words ("past", "will") or mnemonic abbreviations ("def", "pl") are used for attribute labelling. No blank space is allowed inside an attribute name ('@double_quote').

Semantics

Attributes are annotations made to nodes or hypernodes of a UNL hypergraph. They denote the circumstances under which these nodes (or hypernodes) are used.

Attributes may convey three different kinds of information:

• The information on the role of the node in the UNL graph (as in the case for '@entry', that indicates the main (starting) node of a UNL directed graph);
• The information on the original co-text (i.e., the textual neighborhoods) from which the node was extracted (as in the case of '@parenthesis', that indicates that the node was originally represented between parentheses); and
• The information on the (external) context of the utterance (as in the case of '@past', that indicates that the node was used in a time before the speaker's one). In that sense, attributes include phenomena associated to the idea of "deixis".

Set of attributes

The set of attributes of the current Specification (2005) is presented below in alphabetical order.

Set of Attributes

Attribute	Definition
@ability	Ability, capability of doing something
@admire	Admiring feeling of the speaker about something
@affirmative	Affirmation
@although	Something follows against [contrary to] or beyond expectation
@angle_bracket	< > are used
@begin	beginning of an event or a state
@blame	Blameful feeling of the speaker about something
@brace	{ } are used
@certain	Certainty that something is true or happens
@complete	finishing/completion of a (whole) event
@conclusion	Logical conclusion due to a certain condition
@confirmation	Confirmation
@consent	Consent feeling of the speaker about something
@consequence	Logical consequence
@contempt	Contemptuous feeling of the speaker about something
@continue	continuation of an event
@contrast	Contrasted UW
@custom	customary or repetitious action
@def	already referred
@discontented	Discontented feeling of the speaker about something
@disjointed	attached to an UW or a group of UWs to show that all element concept do not hold common instance. All connected UWs do not share instances.
@dissent	Dissent feeling of the speaker about something
@double_parenthesis	(( )) are used
@double_quote	“ ” are used
@emphasis	Emphasized UW
@end	end/termination of an event or a state
@entry	Entry or main UW of a sentence or a scope
@exclamation	Exclamation
@expectation	Expectation of something
@experience	experience
@future	will happen in future
@generic	generic concept
@get-benefit	Speaker’s feeling of receiving benefits through the fact or result of something (to be) done by somebody else
@give-benefit	Speaker’s feeling of giving benefits by doing something for somebody else
@grant	To give/get consent/permission to do something
@grant-not	Not to give consent to do something
@humility	In a humility manner
@identifiable	attached to an UW that can identify the subject
@imperative	Imperative
@indef	non-specific class
@inevitable	Logical inevitability that something is true or happens
@insistence	Strong determination to do something
@intention	Intention about something or to do something
@interrogative	Interrogation
@invitation	Inducement
@just	Expresses an event or a state that has just begun or ended/completed
@may	Practical possibility that something is true or happens
@need	Necessity to do something
@not	complement set
@obligation	Obligation to do something according to (quasi-) law, contract, or …
@obligation-not	Obligation not to do something, forbid to do something according to (quasi-) law, contract or …
@ordinal	ordinal number
@parenthesis	( ) are used
@passive	passive form
@past	happened in the past
@pl	more than one
@polite	polite way
@possible	Logical possibility that something is true or happens
@present	happening at present
@probable	(Practical) probability that something is true or happens
@progress	an event is in progress
@qfocus	Focused UW of a question
@rare	Rare logical possibility that something is true or happens
@regret	Regretful feeling of the speaker about something
@repeat	repetition of an event
@request	Request
@respect	Respectful way
@should	To do something as a matter of course
@single_quote	‘ ’ are used
@soon	Expresses an event or a state that is about to begin or end/completed
@square_bracket	[ ] are used
@state	final state or the existence of the object on which an action has been taken
@sufficient	Sufficient condition
@surprised	Surprised feeling of the speaker about something
@symmetric	attached to an UW that has symmetricity
@theme	Instantiates an object from a different class
@title	Title
@topic	Topic
@transitive	attached to an UW that has transitivity
@troublesome	Troublesome feeling of the speaker about the occurrence of something
@unavoidable	Unavoidable feeling of the speaker about doing something
@unreal	Unreality that something is true or happens
@vocative	Vocative
@want	Desire to do something
@will	Determination to do something
@wish	Wishful feeling, to wish something is true or has happened
@yet	Expresses an event or a state that has not yet started or ended/completed, together with @not