The Unit Graphs Mathematical Framework

We are interested in the choice of a graph-based knowledge representation formalism that would allow for the representation, manipulation, query, and reasoning over linguistic knowledge of the Explanatory Combinatorial Dictionary (ECD) of the Meaning-Text Theory (MTT). We show that neither the semantic web formalisms nor the Conceptual Graphs Formalism are suitable for this task, and we justify the introduction of the new Unit Graphs (UGs) framework. We introduce the fundamental concepts of the UGs mathematical framework: the Unit Types hierarchy and the Unit Graphs. We then show how they may be used to represent lexicographic definitions in the ECD. Finally we provide the UGs with reasoning capabilities.