Notation System

• CURIE: gmeow:NotationSystem
• IRI: https://blackcatinformatics.ca/gmeow/NotationSystem
• Category: class
• Defined by: gmeow:slices/notation
• Box roles: TBox role (What is this?)

A structured symbolic system with defined rules for representing information in a specific domain — mathematical notation, musical notation, stenography, phonetic transcription, or cryptographic encoding. Distinguished from a language by lacking independent generative syntax/semantics; parasitic on or encoding for an existing language or domain (Principle 9).

Structure

Subclass of: gmeow:SymbolicSystem

Practical Pattern

Use gmeow:NotationSystem as a specialized kind of gmeow:SymbolicSystem. Add statement metadata or a standpoint when the assertion needs provenance, confidence, or vantage.

Example Snippets

These snippets are generated from canonical slice examples and trimmed to the Turtle blocks where this term appears.

Notation Systems

• Source: slices/core/notation/examples/notation-systems.ttl
• Examples catalog: open in catalog#example-slices-core-notation-examples-notation-systems

# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2026 Blackcat Informatics® Inc. <paudley@blackcatinformatics.ca>
# SPDX-License-Identifier: CC-BY-4.0
#
# Worked example: notation systems, one machinery for every symbol set . A
# gmeow:NotationSystem is classified by an open gmeow:notationSystemKind
# (musical / mathematical / transcription / encoding / stenographic …), so staff
# notation, IPA, Morse and a math syntax are the SAME kind of object — a symbolic
# system for representing something. A transcription notation declares which
# language it transcribes (gmeow:notationSystemFor); a script is itself a notation
# system, reached from the writing system via gmeow:writingSystemAsNotation.
@prefix gmeow: <https://blackcatinformatics.ca/gmeow/> .
@prefix ex:    <https://blackcatinformatics.ca/gmeow/examples/notation/> .
@prefix rdfs:  <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#> .

# --- Western staff notation: a musical symbolic system, not tied to a language.
ex:staffNotation a gmeow:NotationSystem ;
    rdfs:label              "Western staff notation"@en ;
    gmeow:notationSystemKind gmeow:symbolicKindMusical .

Common Companion Terms

gmeow:SymbolicSystem

External Equivalences

Equivalent or closely aligned targets: wd

Linkages

Generated from the canonical mapping DSL. SSSOM files are the generated public interchange form for term equivalences.

Term Equivalences

Usage Advice

Use when

• Use for a structured, rule-governed symbol system that renders content of an existing language or domain into a surface form — IPA, Western staff notation, Morse, a stenographic system — every one of which is a lossy projection of underlying frame-relative content.

Avoid when

• Avoid for a system with independent generative syntax and semantics (that is gmeow:Language / gmeow:FormalLanguage) and for loose conventions that do not rise to a defined notation; reserve the projection-profile machinery for declaring the losses, not this bare type.

How to use

• Type the system as NotationSystem, tag its domain with gmeow:notationSystemKind, link the language or domain it serves via gmeow:notationSystemFor, and attach a gmeow:NotationProjectionProfile to declare what the surface form represents and loses.

Examples

• ex:ipa a gmeow:NotationSystem; gmeow:notationSystemKind gmeow:symbolicKindTranscription.