Attributes are partial: it need not be the case that every attribute is d ef!ned for every complex element. The set of attribute-value structures partially ordered by the subsumption relation (together with all additional entity T that every attribute-value structure subsumes) forms a lattice, and the join operation on this lattice is called the unification operati(m 119]. Example: (from [16]). The attribute-value structure (1) has six complex elements labelled el . e6 and two corastant elements, singular and third. .
