A register is a formal, systematically maintained list that records entities with defined attributes for official or institutional purposes. Parameters: (1) maintained by an authority or institution with standing to record; (2) entries are discrete entities (persons, objects, species, properties) each with standardized fields; (3) updated periodically or on change; (4) serves administrative purposes — governance, taxation, regulation, accountability, or retrieval. A register differs from a general catalog or glossary by its official, authoritative character and the legal or institutional force behind its records. Persistence mechanism: institutional record-keeping systems, legal mandate, periodic revision cycles, and centralized storage in official archives. [formal: register | substrate: behavior | horizon: generations | explicit: yes | epoch: 0.44]
Accepted ontology entry
register
A register is a formal, systematically maintained list that records entities with defined attributes for official or institutional purposes. Parameters: (1) maintained by an authority or institution with standing to record; (2) entries are…
Definition
Why it is in scope
A register is a human-made formal system of systematic record-keeping — an official catalog maintained by institutions to list, classify, and track entities (people, properties, vessels, species) with defined attributes. It is a bureaucratic artifact: the institutional practice of maintaining authoritative lists for governance, taxation, regulation, and accountability.
Names and aliases
- registeren · CANONICAL
Relations from this entry
- cmrnyl9bb03izd1nl28m5grkdINSTANCE_OF →
register IS a specific kind of catalog — a formal list of items or transactions. Direction specific to general per Law 9.
- cmrvmn7cp01mo2ceidom0p1b3DEPENDS_ON →
Register depends on cohesion: a register operates as a recognizable variety of language only because texts in that register exhibit cohesive patterns — grammatical and lexical links that hold them together as coherent wholes. Remove cohesion (the mechanism of textual unity) and register texts become incoherent word-strings; the register as a functional variety stops operating. The removal test passes: cohesion is constitutive to how registers work, not merely associated.
Relations to this entry
- cmrnsnu1v034bd1nldd922vkk← DEPENDS_ON
Discourse depends on register: discourse operates through register selection — every act of discourse involves choosing (consciously or conventionally) which variety of language deploys. Remove register and discourse loses its organizing mechanism; it ceases to function as a structured communicative practice. Discourse is the broader practice; register is the mechanism by which it operates contextually. Present-tense dependency, not historical.
- cmrpcyxqw06vdd1nltdp741rj← INSTANCE_OF
Direction tested: INSTANCE_OF (specific→general). Jargon IS a specific kind of linguistic register — a variant of language used by a particular group, profession, or community. A competent linguist would call jargon 'a register.' Nearest kind: register exists and is the closest general category. Sense pinned: register means 'a variety of language distinguished by use-context' (its accepted definition), and jargon matches that sense precisely.
- cmrpeb20c06y9d1nlt3p2yvke← INSTANCE_OF
Direction tested: INSTANCE_OF (specific→general). Colloquialism IS a specific kind of register — specifically, an informal register characterized by casual, conversational language. A competent speaker would call colloquialism 'a type of register' or say it 'is informal register.' It files against register (the established kind), not language (which would be meta-level).
- cmsanrai800fx17zl1zi5jy4q← INSTANCE_OF
A hazard-register is a specific kind of register — a systematic record of identified hazards. A competent speaker would call a hazard register 'a type of register'. Nearest kind: register (a documented list), not inventory.
Record identity
- Created
- Jul 16, 2026, 10:49 PM UTC
- Content hash
- 5c9106e46635c096a4bd6ce361cae162f41e9b82e46d7c6b29ee78fea21263be