SBVR12 — Correct ambiguities in signifiers and definitions of noun concepts

There are two minor ambiguities in definitions of types of noun concept:
1. ‘unitary concept’ is defined as ‘individual concept or general concept that always has at most one instance’ .
This is ambiguous because it is not clear whether ‘that always has at most one instance’ applies to both ‘individual concept’ and ‘general concept’ or only to ‘general concept’.
2. ‘individual concept’ is defined as ‘concept that corresponds to only one object [thing]’ (adopted from ISO 1087-1)
This is ambiguous because it is not clear whether ‘only’ means ‘exactly one’ or ‘at most one’. The second note in the entry says “While each referring individual concept has at most one and the same instance …” suggesting that ‘only’ means ‘at most one’.
Also, terms used for types of noun concept do not match their definitions. In SBVR, ‘concept’ includes both ‘noun concept’ and ‘verb concept’, but some terms use ‘concept’ for ‘noun concept’. For example, the definition for ‘general concept’ is for a specialization of ‘noun concept’.
Discussion:
The terms for types of noun concept became a concern after ‘fact type’ was replaced by ‘verb concept’ in Clause 8.
Resolution:
Update the definitions of ‘unitary concept’ and ‘individual concept’ to remove the ambiguities.
Throughout the specification, replace the terms ‘general concept’, ‘unitary concept’ and ‘individual concept’ with, respectively, ‘general noun concept’, ‘unitary noun concept’ and ‘individual noun concept’
Revised Text:
On printed page 21 in Clause 8.1.1

REPLACE
unitary concept
Definition: individual concept or general concept that always has at most one instance
General Concept: noun concept

WITH
unitary noun concept
Definition: general noun concept that always has at most one instance or individual noun concept

On printed page 22 in Clause 8.1.1

REPLACE
individual concept FL
Source: ISO 1087-1 (English) (3.2.2) [‘individual concept’]
Definition: concept that corresponds to only one object [thing]
General Concept: unitary concept
Concept Type: concept type
Necessity: No individual concept is a general concept.
Necessity: No individual concept is a verb concept role.

WITH
individual noun concept FL
Source: based on ISO 1087-1 (English) (3.2.2) [‘individual concept’]
Definition: noun concept that corresponds to at most one thing
General Concept: unitary noun concept
Concept Type: concept type
Necessity: No individual noun concept is a general noun concept.
Necessity: No individual noun concept is a verb concept role.

UPDATE NOUN CONCEPT TERMS:

REPLACE the signifier “general concept” WITH “general noun concept”
… list of replacement locations to be provided

REPLACE the signifier “unitary concept” WITH “unitary noun concept” everywhere
REPLACE the signifier “individual concept” WITH “individual noun concept” everywhere except for the “Source” subentry reference to ISO 1087-1 in the entry for the concept currently termed “individual concept’

UPDATE DIAGRAMS:

REPLACE the following diagrams WITH diagrams that replace the signifiers “general concept”, “unitary concept” and “individual concept” with, respectively, “general noun concept”, “unitary noun concept” and “individual noun concept”:

• Figure 8.1
• Figure 9.3
• Figure 11.2
• Diagram in Clause 13.4 on printed page 198

Add a synonym ‘general noun concept’ to ‘general concept’.
Update the definitions of ‘unitary concept’ and ‘individual concept’ to remove the ambiguities.

Throughout the specification, replace the terms ‘unitary concept’ and ‘individual concept’ with, respectively, ‘unitary noun concept’ and ‘individual noun concept’