Campbell K E, Oliver D E, Spackman K A, Shortliffe E H
Stanford University, California, USA.
J Am Med Inform Assoc. 1998 Sep-Oct;5(5):421-31. doi: 10.1136/jamia.1998.0050421.
The authors describe a framework, based on the Ogden-Richards semiotic triangle, for understanding the relationship between the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) and the source terminologies from which the UMLS derives its content. They pay particular attention to UMLS's Concept Unique Identifier (CUI) and the sense of "meaning" it represents as contrasted with the sense of "meaning" represented by the source terminologies. The CUI takes on emergent meaning through linkage to terms in different terminology systems. In some cases, a CUI's emergent meaning can differ significantly from the original sources' intended meanings of terms linked by that CUI. Identification of these different senses of meaning within the UMLS is consistent with historical themes of semantic interpretation of language. Examination of the UMLS within such a historical framework makes it possible to better understand the strengths and limitations of the UMLS approach for integrating disparate terminologic systems and to provide a model, or theoretic foundation, for evaluating the UMLS as a Possible World--that is, as a mathematical formalism that represents propositions about some perspective or interpretation of the physical world.
作者描述了一个基于奥格登-理查兹符号三角的框架，用于理解统一医学语言系统（UMLS）与UMLS从中获取内容的源术语之间的关系。他们特别关注UMLS的概念唯一标识符（CUI）以及它所代表的“意义”感，与源术语所代表的“意义”感形成对比。CUI通过与不同术语系统中的术语建立联系而具有浮现意义。在某些情况下，CUI的浮现意义可能与该CUI所链接的术语的原始来源的预期意义有很大差异。识别UMLS中这些不同的意义感与语言语义解释的历史主题是一致的。在这样一个历史框架内审视UMLS，可以更好地理解UMLS整合不同术语系统方法的优势和局限性，并为评估UMLS作为一个可能世界——也就是说，作为一种表示关于物理世界的某些观点或解释的命题的数学形式主义——提供一个模型或理论基础。
