UML14 — Associations as parts of a composite.

Summary: The notation says that associations may be parts of composites:

The parts of a composition may include classes and
associations. The meaning of an association in a composition
is that any tuple of objects connected by a single link must
all belong to the same container object. [p62, section 5.26.1
Notation, UML 1.1, or p65, section 3.42.1 in UML 1.2]

The above meaning of association as part is not recorded in the
semantics.

In any case, the definition prevents associations from having
parts themselves. When an association has parts, some parts must
be associations that connect to objects outside the containing
association. See Bock & Odell in JOOP, Vol 11, No 5, September
1998, also at:

No Data Available