Minimal Deductive Systems for RDF

Abstract

This paper presents a minimalist program for RDF, by showing how one can do without several predicates and keywords of the RDF Schema vocabulary, obtaining a simpler language which preserves the original semantics. This approach is beneficial in at least two directions: (a) To have a simple abstract fragment of RDFS easy to formalize and to reason about, which captures the essence of RDFS; (b) To obtain algorithmic properties of deduction and optimizations that are relevant for particular fragments. Among our results are: the identification of a simple fragment of RDFS; the proof that it encompasses the main features of RDFS; a formal semantics and a deductive system for it; sound and complete deductive systems for their sub-fragments; and an O(n log n) complexity bound for ground entailment in this fragment.