Action/Event Equivalent (AEE)

Description and roles

The Action/Event Equivalent Relation (AEE) connects always one Action to one Concept, and it serves to translate between the world of verbs and the world of nouns. For instance, A "to baptize" would have the AEE C "baptism".

Since any specific Event which happens to be a baptism should have the Classification C "baptism", all specific "baptism" Events and all Statements with the Action "to baptize" used in the action slot can be queried together in the database, as long as they have the AEE and CLA properly set.

Just as importantly, AEE is a way for verbs to acquire coherent Superclasses. While the Superclass Relation is allowed for Actions, most verbs do not have manifest Superclasses. For instance, A "to baptize" does not have any Superclass such as *"to ritualize", while C "baptism" can acquire quite a straightforward Superclass tree (e.g. C "Christian ritual", which in turn will have the Superclass C "ritual"). These Superclasses propagated to Actions from Concepts through AEE are shown under Actions in InkVisitor, thereby helping coders to decide whether an Action fits the specific context. They are of course vital for analytical queries which aim at retrieving, for instance, all rituals, be they expressed through verbs (i.e., through an Action) or nouns (i.e., as Events).

FAQ

Recommended language for AEE

AEEs should be formulated in the analytical metalanguage of the given project (usually English). This is preferable to using the source language of the texts being analysed, because AEE serves mainly analytical purposes. English is specifically useful because its nominal gerunds such as giving, assigning, permitting signal more clearly the act rather than the outcome or object of action, which is essential given that the AEE Concept must represent the action or event as such.

An exception is warranted where a source-language technical term - particularly in multiword expression (MWE) verbs - is already established in the project or adds precision that a metalanguage equivalent would not easily capture. In such cases, the source-language term may be retained, but care must be taken to ensure the use of this Concept exists in the appropriate sense (about the act, not outcome or object) exists.

Thus, when reviewing older data, consider whether AEE in source language adds meaningful value; if not, create a metalanguage equivalent and use that instead.

Typescript definition

interface IActionEventEquivalent extends IRelation {
    type: RelationEnums.Type.ActionEventEquivalent;
    entityIds: [string, string];
  }