Globish tool: http://www.globish.com/?page=globish_scanner

RDF Semantics intro from http://www.w3.org/TR/rdf-mt/#prelim

RDF is an assertional language intended to be used to express propositions using precise formal vocabularies, particularly those specified using RDFS [RDF-VOCABULARY], for access and use over the World Wide Web, and is intended to provide a basic foundation for more advanced assertional languages with a similar purpose. The overall design goals emphasise generality and precision in expressing propositions about any topic, rather than conformity to any particular processing model: see the RDF Concepts document [RDF-CONCEPTS] for more discussion.

Exactly what is considered to be the 'meaning' of an assertion in RDF or RDFS in some broad sense may depend on many factors, including social conventions, comments in natural language or links to other content-bearing documents. Much of this meaning will be inaccessible to machine processing and is mentioned here only to emphasize that the formal semantics described in this document is not intended to provide a full analysis of 'meaning' in this broad sense; that would be a large research topic. The semantics given here restricts itself to a formal notion of meaning which could be characterized as the part that is common to all other accounts of meaning, and can be captured in mechanical inference rules.

This document uses a basic technique called model theory for specifying the semantics of a formal language. Readers unfamiliar with model theory may find the glossary in appendix B helpful; throughout the text, uses of terms in a technical sense are linked to their glossary definitions. Model theory assumes that the language refers to a 'world', and describes the minimal conditions that a world must satisfy in order to assign an appropriate meaning for every expression in the language. A particular world is called an interpretation, so that model theory might be better called 'interpretation theory'. The idea is to provide an abstract, mathematical account of the properties that any such interpretation must have, making as few assumptions as possible about its actual nature or intrinsic structure, thereby retaining as much generality as possible. The chief utility of a formal semantic theory is not to provide any deep analysis of the nature of the things being described by the language or to suggest any particular processing model, but rather to provide a technical way to determine when inference processes are valid, i.e. when they preserve truth. This provides the maximal freedom for implementations while preserving a globally coherent notion of meaning.


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WORK IN PROGRESS:

RDF is a proposition-based language designed to be used to express propositions using exact formal sentences, especially those expressed using RDFS [RDF-VOCABULARY], for sharing and use over the World Wide Web. It can be used to create more powerful computer languages with a similar purpose. The main design goals are to support general purpose use, as well as exactness in expressing propositions about any subject, rather than requiring any single processing model: see the RDF Concepts document [RDF-CONCEPTS] for more discussion.

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Exactly what is considered to be the 'meaning' of an assertion in RDF or RDFS in some broad sense may depend on many factors, including social conventions, comments in natural language or links to other content-bearing documents. Much of this meaning will be inaccessible to machine processing and is mentioned here only to emphasize that the formal semantics described in this document is not intended to provide a full analysis of 'meaning' in this broad sense; that would be a large research topic. The semantics given here restricts itself to a formal notion of meaning which could be characterized as the part that is common to all other accounts of meaning, and can be captured in mechanical inference rules.

This document uses a basic technique called model theory for specifying the semantics of a formal language. Readers unfamiliar with model theory may find the glossary in appendix B helpful; throughout the text, uses of terms in a technical sense are linked to their glossary definitions. Model theory assumes that the language refers to a 'world', and describes the minimal conditions that a world must satisfy in order to assign an appropriate meaning for every expression in the language. A particular world is called an interpretation, so that model theory might be better called 'interpretation theory'. The idea is to provide an abstract, mathematical account of the properties that any such interpretation must have, making as few assumptions as possible about its actual nature or intrinsic structure, thereby retaining as much generality as possible. The chief utility of a formal semantic theory is not to provide any deep analysis of the nature of the things being described by the language or to suggest any particular processing model, but rather to provide a technical way to determine when inference processes are valid, i.e. when they preserve truth. This provides the maximal freedom for implementations while preserving a globally coherent notion of meaning.