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A substantial body of research has proposed that basic-level categories are the first categories formed during perception of the environment, the first learned by children and those most used in language. Experimental studies suggest that high-level (or superordinate) categories lack informativeness because they are represented by only a few attributes and low-level (or subordinate) categories lack cognitive economy because they are represented by too many attributes. Studies in library and information science have demonstrated the prevalence of basic-level categories in knowledge organization and representation systems such as thesauri and in image indexing and retrieval; and it has been suggested that the universality of basic-level categories could be used for building crosswalks between classificatory systems and user-centred indexing. However, while there is evidence of the pervasiveness of basic-level categories, they may actually be unstable across individuals, domains or cultures and thus unable to support broad generalizations. This paper discusses application of Heidegger\u2019s notion of handiness as a framework for understanding the relational nature of basic-level categories.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/0165551513481443","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2013,4,9]],"date-time":"2013-04-09T22:25:59Z","timestamp":1365546359000},"page":"676-687","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":24,"title":["Basic-level categories: A review"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"39","author":[{"given":"Lala","family":"Hajibayova","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Library and Information Science, Indiana University Bloomington, IN, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2013,4,9]]},"reference":[{"key":"bibr1-0165551513481443","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1037\/h0041727"},{"key":"bibr2-0165551513481443","volume-title":"Philosophical investigations","author":"Wittgenstein L.","year":"1963"},{"key":"bibr3-0165551513481443","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/0010-0285(75)90024-9"},{"key":"bibr4-0165551513481443","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/0010-0285(76)90013-X"},{"key":"bibr5-0165551513481443","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.7208\/chicago\/9780226471013.001.0001"},{"key":"bibr6-0165551513481443","unstructured":"Green R. 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