diff --git a/README.md b/README.md index 488952f..57b3916 100644 --- a/README.md +++ b/README.md @@ -28,6 +28,10 @@ clipboard and delusions of nationhood. - `schemas/`: human-facing state contract receipts. - `docs/`: architecture, language model, and roadmap. +Start with [Best Modern Approach](./docs/best-modern-approach.md) for the core +design doctrine: ontology, roots, morphology, syntax, semantics, interlingua, +diachrony, and model-assisted consistency. + ## Implementation Status No runtime language has been selected yet. The first committed artifact is the diff --git a/docs/best-modern-approach.md b/docs/best-modern-approach.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ac74687 --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/best-modern-approach.md @@ -0,0 +1,340 @@ +# Best Modern Approach + +Weksa should not be an English word-substitution machine. That old Word2Vec +idea was plausible as a cheap lexifier, but a believable alien language needs +more authority than semantic clustering plus new syllables. + +The modern approach is a hybrid: + +- use models for semantic decomposition, clustering, generation, and critique +- keep language authority in explicit ontology, grammar, morphology, phonology, + diachrony, state, and examples + +If a model owns the language, the language drifts. If rules own everything, the +language can become sterile. Weksa's job is to make those two pressures useful +without letting either one annex the whole machine. + +## Conceptual Ontology + +Start with a world model, not English words. + +Define what the speakers perceive, value, fear, classify, taboo, ritualize, and +socially enforce. English distinctions can split, collapse, or become irrelevant +when passed through the alien ontology. + +Useful axes: + +- agency: animate, machine, ancestor, weather, collective +- visibility: seen, inferred, dreamed, ritually known +- time: cyclic, seasonal, ancestral, immediate +- social relation: kin, oath-bound, enemy, host, stranger +- environment: aquatic, fungal, orbital, subterranean, migratory + +Embeddings and LLMs can cluster English concepts, but the ontology decides what +the target language actually cares about. The ontology is the pressure chamber; +English is just one input gas. + +Example concept split: + +```text +English: water + +Alien ontology: + life-water: potable/shared water that sustains the group + boundary-water: dangerous water marking territorial edge + sky-water: rain, omen-bearing and seasonal + body-water: blood, sap, egg-fluid, and related internal liquids +``` + +Example concept collapse: + +```text +English: debt, promise, remembered injury + +Alien ontology: + one concept family: unclosed social pressure +``` + +## Root Generation + +Generate roots from a phonotactic grammar, not random syllables. + +Root generation should know: + +- phoneme inventory +- legal syllable shapes +- stress or tone behavior +- root length constraints +- semantic domain pressure +- historical proto-form constraints +- taboo or register restrictions + +Example phonotactic seed: + +```text +syllable shapes: CV, CVC, CVN +constraints: + voiced stops absent + liquids appear only in ritual or archaic strata + word-final nasals mark old collective nouns + high vowels are common in proximity/deixis roots +``` + +Semantic clustering can assign nearby meanings related root shapes, but with +restraint. A language where every fire word starts with the same obvious chunk +feels like a toy. A faint family resemblance is better than a nametag. + +Example root family: + +```text +root: tal +domain: witness/perception +core: to become responsible by seeing + +derived: + tal-en: witness-person + tal-ru: visible evidence + mi-tal: to refuse responsibility for what was seen +``` + +## Morphology + +Morphology is where alienness can become structural instead of cosmetic. + +Decide what the language obligatorily marks. Human languages already vary +wildly here; alien ones can push harder, as long as the pressure follows from +the world and speakers. + +Possible obligatory categories: + +- evidence source: seen, inferred, told, dreamed, mathematically derived +- ecological role: edible, symbiotic, poisonous, sacred, tool-like +- social relation: kin, oath-bound, temporary ally, outside-oath, rival +- phase: becoming, stable, decaying, returning +- possession: detachable, bodily, inherited, stolen, mutually-constituting +- risk or taboo: safe to name, indirect name required, silence required + +Example morphology sketch: + +```text +root: kan = shared life-water + +kan-a water as present resource +kan-ir water as owed or withheld +kan-oth water witnessed as contaminated +kan-ma water in reciprocal stewardship +``` + +The morphology should make speakers say the things their culture cannot ignore. + +## Syntax + +Pick a structural spine, then bend it intentionally. + +Syntax should not merely encode English with different word order. It should +interact with the ontology and morphology. + +Possible choices: + +- verb-final clauses with topic-first discourse +- evidentials hosted on the clause edge +- noun incorporation for routine actions +- no adjective class; qualities are stative verbs +- relative clauses replaced by chained participles +- questions marked by evidential mismatch rather than word order +- switch-reference markers for social or perceptual continuity + +Example: + +```text +English: + I saw the stranger steal water. + +Syntax pressure: + witnessed-event clause + outside-oath agent + shared-resource patient + speaker takes report obligation by seeing +``` + +The output should not just mean "I saw X steal Y." It should encode that seeing +created responsibility. + +## Lexical Semantics + +Words should have concept cards, not one-line English replacements. + +Each root or lexical item should track: + +- core meaning +- domain +- metaphorical extensions +- contrast set +- taboo or ritual usage +- derived forms +- examples +- false friends with English glosses + +Example concept card: + +```text +root: tal +domain: perception / witness +core: to become responsible by seeing + +extensions: + legal witnessing + omen recognition + public acknowledgment + +contrast: + passive noticing without social force is a different root + +derived: + tal-en: witness-person + tal-ru: visible evidence + mi-tal: to refuse to acknowledge what was seen + +false friend: + not equivalent to English "see" +``` + +This is how Weksa avoids making a dictionary of costumes. + +## Interlingua + +Do not translate English directly into alien words. Translate English into a +structured meaning representation first. + +Example source: + +```text +I saw the stranger steal water. +``` + +Example interlingua: + +```json +{ + "event": "steal", + "agent": { + "role": "stranger", + "social_status": "outside_oath" + }, + "patient": { + "concept": "water", + "ecological_status": "shared_life_resource" + }, + "witness": "speaker", + "evidence": "direct_visual", + "moral_frame": "obligation_to_report", + "tense_aspect": "completed" +} +``` + +Then render that through the alien ontology and grammar. The interlingua is the +translation hinge: it lets English stop being the hidden skeleton of the target +language. + +## Diachrony + +Believability comes from history, not just design. + +Generate or record: + +- older forms +- sound changes +- semantic drift +- fossilized compounds +- register splits +- loan strata +- taboo replacements +- irregular sacred forms + +Example: + +```text +proto-form: kana = saltwater +sound change: unstressed final vowels drop +modern form: kan + +ritual preservation: + kana-thul = ancestral tide oath + +semantic drift: + inland dialect extends kan to mean debt because salt transport was tribute-bound +``` + +A language without accidents feels designed because it is. Diachrony is how the +machine earns scars instead of painting them on. + +## Model-Assisted Consistency + +Use models as critics and assistants, not as the source of truth. + +Good model jobs: + +- decompose source text into candidate interlingua +- suggest ontology splits and collapses +- propose metaphorical extensions +- generate example sentences from explicit grammar +- find places where output is just English in disguise +- compare the system to known typological patterns +- identify overloaded morphology or unmotivated categories +- stress-test a lexicon for contradictions + +Useful critique prompts: + +```text +Find places where this grammar preserves English assumptions. +``` + +```text +Which obligatory categories lack cultural or communicative pressure? +``` + +```text +Generate 30 sentences from this grammar and identify contradictions in the +glosses, morphology, or ontology. +``` + +```text +Compare this language state to known typological patterns without making it +merely human. +``` + +Model output should become durable only after review and normalization into the +explicit language project state. Raw completions are evidence or suggestions, +not law. + +## Practical System Shape + +A strong Weksa implementation will likely need: + +- ontology store +- phonotactic generator +- morphology engine +- grammar renderer +- diachrony engine +- model prompt layer for decomposition and critique +- embedding or retrieval layer for concept clustering +- corpus generator +- consistency checker + +Those pieces should appear only when their authority is clear. The durable +pipeline is: + +```text +source text + -> interlingua + -> alien ontology + -> grammar + -> morphology + -> phonology + -> diachrony + -> renderer + -> surface text + gloss + trace +``` + +That gets Weksa something grounded, generative, and strange for reasons deeper +than apostrophes. diff --git a/docs/language-model.md b/docs/language-model.md index 510023f..b0a8738 100644 --- a/docs/language-model.md +++ b/docs/language-model.md @@ -2,6 +2,9 @@ Weksa's linguistic model is concept-first. +See [Best Modern Approach](./best-modern-approach.md) for the fuller design +doctrine and examples. + ## Translation Path 1. Preserve the source utterance. diff --git a/state/map.yaml b/state/map.yaml index 3f77b66..50e51e7 100644 --- a/state/map.yaml +++ b/state/map.yaml @@ -129,6 +129,9 @@ accepted_design: - The first model is concept-first translation through an explicit interlingua, ontology, grammar, morphology, phonology, diachrony, and renderer pipeline. + - `docs/best-modern-approach.md` is the current doctrine for conceptual + ontology, root generation, morphology, syntax, lexical semantics, + interlingua, diachrony, and model-assisted consistency. open_questions: - Which implementation language best serves the first usable engine?