{ "model": { "rank": 5515, "code": "thing-q14759", "model_id": "vr.tr.american-sign-language", "name": "American Sign Language", "purpose": "Enable an AI agent to identify American Sign Language, assess evidence about its use and accessibility, and choose appropriate language resources or communication support.", "family": "Thing Registry", "category": "Information and virtual systems", "status": "research-draft", "kind": "thing", "plane": "INF", "domain": "INF.MED", "industry": "", "version": "", "url": "/models/thing/q14759/", "tier": 2, "score": 66, "payload": { "layer": "wikidata", "aliases": [ "Haitian Sign Language", "Quebec Sign Language", "Chiriquí Sign Language", "Black American Sign Language", "Colombian Sign Language", "Malaysian Sign Language", "Ecuadorian Sign Language", "Ghanaian Sign Language", "Honduran Sign Language", "Peruvian Sign Language", "Costa Rican Sign Language", "Francophone African Sign Language", "Nigerian Sign Language", "Panamanian Sign Language", "Puerto Rican Sign Language", "Salvadoran Sign Language", "Sierra Leonean Sign Language", "Singapore Sign Language", "Trinidadian Sign Language" ], "aliasCount": 19, "merged": 19, "knownIn": 66, "facets": null, "markers": [], "lexicalClass": "", "senseRank": null, "alsoRegisteredAs": null, "source": { "dataset": "wikidata", "item": "Q14759", "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14759", "license": "CC0 1.0" } }, "research": { "vercy": "1.0-draft", "publication": { "status": "research-draft", "adjudicationStatus": "unreviewed", "publishableCanonical": false, "generatedAt": "2026-09-09T22:31:48Z", "providers": [ "Codex" ], "breadth": "recalled by Codex without web access - no source was read", "missingProviders": [], "pass": 2, "cost": { "grok": { "seconds": 21.6, "error": "Reading additional input from stdin...\nOpenAI Codex v0.153.4\n--------\nworkdir: R:\\02_PROJECTS\\02_Meta_Models_Platforms\\Ver.cy\\current\\thing-registry-backlog\nmodel: gpt-6-astra\nprovider: openai\napproval: never\nsandbox: read-only\nreasoning effort: none\nreasoning summaries: none\nsession id: 01a0884b-94ab-72c2-b526-d6ff983bc8ba\n--------\nuser\nDescribe what is already known about one registered thing. Answer as JSON only, no prose around it.\n\nThing: American Sign Language\nSense to describe: (none recorded)\nDomain code: ACT.ACT\nAlso known as: (none)\n\n\nContext for this batch of 1001 things:\n# Batch 00", "usd": 0, "recall": true }, "codex": { "seconds": 59.3, "error": "Reading additional input from stdin...\nOpenAI Codex v0.153.4\n--------\nworkdir: R:\\02_PROJECTS\\02_Meta_Models_Platforms\\Ver.cy\\current\\thing-registry-backlog\nmodel: gpt-6-astra\nprovider: openai\napproval: never\nsandbox: read-only\nreasoning effort: none\nreasoning summaries: none\nsession id: 01a0884b-94be-7c51-aefd-8c2bec3ede35\n--------\nuser\nYou are drafting a Vercy meta-model for one registered thing. Answer as JSON only, no prose around it.\n\nThing: American Sign Language\nRegistry id: vr.tr.american-sign-language\nPlane / domain: ACT / ACT.ACT\nRegistry definition: (none recorded)\nNames folded into" } } }, "metaModel": { "id": "THING-Q14759", "registryId": "vr.tr.american-sign-language", "name": "American Sign Language", "version": "0.1.0-research.1", "entryKind": "thing", "family": "Thing Registry", "domain": [ "ACT.ACT" ], "status": "research-draft" }, "canonicalUrl": "https://ver.cy/models/thing/q14759/", "model": { "registry_id": "vr.tr.american-sign-language", "name": "American Sign Language", "purpose": "Enable an AI agent to identify American Sign Language, assess evidence about its use and accessibility, and choose appropriate language resources or communication support.", "definition": "American Sign Language (ASL) is a natural language expressed primarily through manual and nonmanual visual signals, with grammar distinct from English, used by Deaf communities principally in the United States and parts of Canada.", "scope_statement": "This model owns American Sign Language as the language identified by vr.tr.american-sign-language in ACT / ACT.ACT, including its linguistic boundaries, community variation, acquisition, use, and representation; it distinguishes the language from individual performances, interpreting services, and recording technologies.", "in_scope": [ "ASL identity, identifiers, and evidence distinguishing it from other signed languages and manually coded English systems", "Manual and nonmanual linguistic features, spatial organization, and discourse conventions", "Community varieties, registers, language contact, and judgments about acceptable usage", "Dated estimates of ASL users, acquisition pathways, and transmission conditions", "ASL-specific educational recognition, legal recognition, and communication access requirements", "Writing, annotation, recording, and computational representations of ASL" ], "out_of_scope": [ "Other signed languages as independently modeled languages", "English grammar and manually coded English systems as independent communication systems", "Deaf identity, Deaf communities, and Deaf culture beyond their relationship to ASL", "Individual interpreters, qualifications, contracts, and service organizations", "Hearing conditions, clinical assessment, and medical interventions", "Video platforms, cameras, and sign-recognition software as technical products" ], "distinguishing_features": [ "Establish language identity from linguistic evidence and community attribution; use in the United States alone does not identify ASL.", "Distinguish ASL from manually coded English by examining grammatical organization rather than treating the presence of familiar signs as sufficient evidence.", "Distinguish ASL discourse from gesture, pantomime, or isolated vocabulary demonstrations by looking for sustained linguistic patterning and contextual interpretation.", "Distinguish ASL from another signed language or International Sign through documented linguistic and community evidence rather than assuming visual communication is universal.", "Treat English glosses, fingerspelled sequences, and written annotations as partial evidence or representations, not as interchangeable with complete ASL utterances." ], "characteristics": [ { "name": "Language identity and authority identifiers", "kind": "relation", "unit_or_values": "Registry identity linked to verified language-authority records, with authority, version, retrieval date, and scope", "why_it_matters": "Supports resource matching without allowing an identifier to determine disputed language boundaries." }, { "name": "Variety and register attribution", "kind": "category", "unit_or_values": "Community-described variety; regional, generational, social, educational, or situational register; mixed or undetermined", "why_it_matters": "Prevents legitimate variation from being classified automatically as error." }, { "name": "User population estimate", "kind": "measurement", "unit_or_values": "People, with estimate year, geography, inclusion criteria, proficiency threshold, method, uncertainty, and source", "why_it_matters": "Separates native signers, other proficient users, learners, and service users when interpreting population claims." }, { "name": "Linguistic feature profile", "kind": "category", "unit_or_values": "Attested patterns involving handshape, location, movement, orientation, nonmanual marking, spatial reference, and discourse, with contextual evidence", "why_it_matters": "Helps assess whether descriptions and resources capture ASL beyond a list of signs." }, { "name": "Acquisition and transmission setting", "kind": "category", "unit_or_values": "Home, peer community, school, adult instruction, or other documented setting; exposure timing and continuity recorded separately", "why_it_matters": "Supports evaluation of language access and transmission without inferring proficiency from hearing status." }, { "name": "Recognition in law and education", "kind": "state", "unit_or_values": "Verified recognition type or unknown, qualified by jurisdiction, institution, instrument, effective date, and applicable setting", "why_it_matters": "Prevents recognition in one context from being generalized into universal official status or access entitlement." }, { "name": "Representation and capture adequacy", "kind": "state", "unit_or_values": "Adequate for stated task, limited, inadequate, or unassessed; representation type and lost information documented", "why_it_matters": "Determines whether video, notation, gloss, or extracted motion data can support the intended interpretation." }, { "name": "Resource suitability", "kind": "relation", "unit_or_values": "Resource matched to audience, variety, register, task, community review, permissions, and known limitations", "why_it_matters": "Guides selection of learning materials, corpora, translations, and communication support." } ], "affordances": [ "Identify whether a resource claims to contain ASL and assess the evidence supporting that attribution.", "Match learning or communication resources to the intended ASL users, variety, register, and setting.", "Compare population or transmission claims while preserving differences in date, sampling, and definitions.", "Assess whether an ASL recording or representation preserves the linguistic information required for a task.", "Determine which verified recognition instruments and access provisions apply to a specified setting.", "Route ambiguous language attribution, disputed usage, or consequential translation decisions to appropriately qualified ASL users or specialists." ] }, "sources": [], "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "language-identity-and-boundaries", "name": "Language identity and boundaries", "description": "Establishes what the registry's ASL entry denotes and how competing labels or neighboring systems are distinguished.", "rationale": "Geography, familiar signs, English labels, and catalogue codes are individually insufficient to establish ASL identity.", "layers": [ { "id": "names-and-authority-records", "name": "Names and authority records", "description": "Connects the registered thing to documented names and language classifications.", "findings": [ { "id": "verified-asl-identification", "name": "Verified ASL identification", "description": "Record each identifier and classification as an attributed assertion, including absent or disputed mappings.", "questions": [ { "text": "Which ISO 639 records, Glottolog record, and Ethnologue record identify ASL, and which requested identifier systems provide no applicable code?", "kind": "provenance", "id": "verified-asl-identification-q01" }, { "text": "What language scope does each authority assign to ASL, and where do those scopes disagree?", "kind": "boundary", "id": "verified-asl-identification-q02" } ] } ] }, { "id": "neighboring-languages-and-systems", "name": "Neighboring languages and systems", "description": "Tests attribution against other signed languages, contact practices, gesture, and English-based signing systems.", "findings": [ { "id": "evidence-for-language-boundaries", "name": "Evidence for language boundaries", "description": "Require linguistic and community evidence for boundaries rather than imposing them from national location or vocabulary overlap.", "questions": [ { "text": "What evidence distinguishes the observed signing from manually coded English, International Sign, another signed language, or nonlinguistic gesture?", "kind": "boundary", "id": "evidence-for-language-boundaries-q01" }, { "text": "Who classifies a disputed variety or contact practice as ASL, and what linguistic or community criteria support that decision?", "kind": "provenance", "id": "evidence-for-language-boundaries-q02" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "linguistic-organization-and-variation", "name": "Linguistic organization and variation", "description": "Captures the evidence needed to recognize ASL structure and interpret variation within it.", "rationale": "An ASL model must support analysis of coordinated visual language and avoid reducing competence to English-associated vocabulary.", "layers": [ { "id": "manual-nonmanual-and-spatial-structure", "name": "Manual, nonmanual, and spatial structure", "description": "Examines how visible articulations and spatial organization contribute to linguistic interpretation.", "findings": [ { "id": "contextual-linguistic-patterns", "name": "Contextual linguistic patterns", "description": "Document attested patterns with examples and analytical uncertainty, including distinctions between linguistic marking and incidental movement.", "questions": [ { "text": "Which manual contrasts, nonmanual markings, and uses of signing space are needed to interpret the example in its discourse context?", "kind": "definition", "id": "contextual-linguistic-patterns-q01" }, { "text": "What recorded examples and analyses support the proposed interpretation, and which alternative analyses remain plausible?", "kind": "provenance", "id": "contextual-linguistic-patterns-q02" } ] } ] }, { "id": "community-varieties-and-registers", "name": "Community varieties and registers", "description": "Records variation and the social or institutional basis of usage judgments.", "findings": [ { "id": "situated-usage-and-norms", "name": "Situated usage and norms", "description": "Attribute claims about regional, generational, and social varieties, including Black ASL, and distinguish teaching conventions from community usage.", "questions": [ { "text": "How do relevant communities and studies describe this variety or register, and what evidence supports its relationship to ASL?", "kind": "provenance", "id": "situated-usage-and-norms-q01" }, { "text": "Is a claimed standard a classroom convention, an institutional preference, or a documented community norm, and for which setting should an agent apply it?", "kind": "action", "id": "situated-usage-and-norms-q02" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "users-transmission-and-recognition", "name": "Users, transmission, and recognition", "description": "Connects dated evidence about ASL users and acquisition with recognition in specific institutions and jurisdictions.", "rationale": "User counts, educational provision, and legal recognition describe different conditions and must not substitute for one another.", "layers": [ { "id": "population-and-language-transmission", "name": "Population and language transmission", "description": "Assesses who is counted as an ASL user and how access to acquisition is sustained.", "findings": [ { "id": "dated-user-and-acquisition-evidence", "name": "Dated user and acquisition evidence", "description": "Retain population definitions and acquisition settings so estimates can be compared without conflating hearing status, enrollment, and language use.", "questions": [ { "text": "For what year and geography was the ASL user population estimated, using which sampling method, proficiency criteria, and uncertainty bounds?", "kind": "measurement", "id": "dated-user-and-acquisition-evidence-q01" }, { "text": "What evidence describes access to sustained ASL interaction through families, peers, schools, or adult learning, and which populations are missing?", "kind": "provenance", "id": "dated-user-and-acquisition-evidence-q02" } ] } ] }, { "id": "legal-and-educational-recognition", "name": "Legal and educational recognition", "description": "Separates recognition of ASL from specific educational provisions and communication access obligations.", "findings": [ { "id": "setting-specific-recognition", "name": "Setting-specific recognition", "description": "Attach each recognition or access claim to an operative instrument and its actual scope.", "questions": [ { "text": "Which dated legal instrument or institutional policy recognizes ASL, and does it concern language status, course credit, instructional use, or communication access?", "kind": "provenance", "id": "setting-specific-recognition-q01" }, { "text": "Given the jurisdiction, institution, activity, and user's communication requirements, what ASL provision is supported by the applicable instrument?", "kind": "action", "id": "setting-specific-recognition-q02" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "representation-and-practical-use", "name": "Representation and practical use", "description": "Evaluates how ASL is captured, annotated, learned, translated, and used through resources or services.", "rationale": "A text label, motion trace, or cropped video may omit information necessary for an ASL task even when its vocabulary appears correct.", "layers": [ { "id": "recording-writing-and-annotation", "name": "Recording, writing, and annotation", "description": "Distinguishes the language from video, writing systems, gloss conventions, and computational encodings.", "findings": [ { "id": "representation-fidelity", "name": "Representation fidelity", "description": "Assess preservation of timing, articulators, spatial reference, and context relative to the intended task.", "questions": [ { "text": "Which writing or annotation convention is used, who uses it, and what ASL information does it encode or omit?", "kind": "definition", "id": "representation-fidelity-q01" }, { "text": "Does the recording or derived representation preserve the hands, face, body, signing space, and temporal detail needed for this task?", "kind": "measurement", "id": "representation-fidelity-q02" } ] } ] }, { "id": "resource-selection-and-human-review", "name": "Resource selection and human review", "description": "Makes resource choice and review requirements responsive to the users and consequences of an ASL task.", "findings": [ { "id": "fit-for-purpose-asl-support", "name": "Fit-for-purpose ASL support", "description": "Record audience fit, community validation, permissions, and limits before using learning materials, translated content, corpora, or automated outputs.", "questions": [ { "text": "Who created and reviewed the ASL resource, for which users and register, and what evidence supports its suitability?", "kind": "provenance", "id": "fit-for-purpose-asl-support-q01" }, { "text": "What permissions, user preferences, and qualified human review are required before this resource or automated output is used in the proposed setting?", "kind": "action", "id": "fit-for-purpose-asl-support-q02" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "evidence-and-external-alignment", "name": "Evidence and external alignment", "description": "What the world already says about this thing, gathered so the model can be checked against it.", "rationale": "A model that cannot be lined up against existing standards, identifiers and practice cannot be adopted by anyone who already uses them.", "layers": [ { "id": "reported-evidence", "name": "Reported evidence", "description": "Findings from the breadth pass, kept separate from the structural claims.", "findings": [ { "id": "evidence-confidence-notes", "name": "Check these first", "description": "Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.", "evidence": [ "This account is recalled knowledge, not source-checked research.", "User-population estimates require a dated source and explicit counting method, distinguishing primary users, additional-language users and learners; no estimate is supplied here.", "Legal recognition, educational provision and boundaries among ASL varieties require jurisdiction-specific and community-informed verification." ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-confidence-notes-q01", "text": "Which of these check these first hold for the sense of American Sign Language this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] }, { "id": "evidence-kinds", "name": "Kinds and varieties", "description": "Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.", "evidence": [ "Black American Sign Language (Black ASL)", "Regional varieties of ASL" ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-kinds-q01", "text": "Which of these kinds and varieties hold for the sense of American Sign Language this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] }, { "id": "evidence-identifiers", "name": "Identifiers and schemes", "description": "Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.", "evidence": [ { "scheme": "ISO 639-3", "value_or_pattern": "ase", "note": "Identifies American Sign Language; ASL is its common abbreviation, not its ISO 639-3 code." }, { "scheme": "ISO 639-2", "value_or_pattern": "sgn", "note": "A collective code for sign languages, not an identifier specific to ASL." } ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-identifiers-q01", "text": "Which of these identifiers and schemes hold for the sense of American Sign Language this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] }, { "id": "evidence-standards-and-regulation", "name": "Standards and regulation", "description": "Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.", "evidence": [ "ISO 639, issued by the International Organization for Standardization, provides language identifiers rather than rules for ASL grammar or usage." ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-standards-and-regulation-q01", "text": "Which of these standards and regulation hold for the sense of American Sign Language this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] }, { "id": "evidence-real-world-use", "name": "Real-world use", "description": "Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.", "evidence": [ "Everyday communication and cultural life in Deaf communities.", "Instruction and interaction in bilingual ASL-English education.", "Interpreted communication in public services, workplaces, healthcare and education.", "Poetry, storytelling, theatre and recorded signed media.", "Communication through video calls and video relay services." ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-real-world-use-q01", "text": "Which of these real-world use hold for the sense of American Sign Language this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] }, { "id": "evidence-failure-modes-and-hazards", "name": "Failure modes and hazards", "description": "Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.", "evidence": [ "Treating ASL as English represented on the hands produces inaccurate translations and teaching materials.", "Assuming sign language is universal causes communication failures across language communities.", "Poor lighting, obstructed sightlines or video framing that hides the face or hands can remove linguistic information.", "Word-for-word substitution overlooks spatial grammar, nonmanual marking and discourse context.", "Assuming every deaf person uses ASL can lead to inappropriate accessibility arrangements." ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-failure-modes-and-hazards-q01", "text": "Which of these failure modes and hazards hold for the sense of American Sign Language this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] }, { "id": "evidence-regional-variation", "name": "Regional variation", "description": "Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.", "evidence": [ "Vocabulary and usage vary across regions, generations, schools and social networks in the United States and Canada.", "Black ASL has historically developed within Black Deaf communities, including through segregated schooling, and exhibits documented linguistic variation.", "Canada also has other sign languages, including Quebec Sign Language; ASL is not a single nationwide sign language." ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-regional-variation-q01", "text": "Which of these regional variation hold for the sense of American Sign Language this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] }, { "id": "evidence-neighbours", "name": "Neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart", "description": "Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.", "evidence": [ { "name": "English", "difference": "ASL has its own grammar; contact with English and fingerspelling do not make it a signed form of English." }, { "name": "Signed Exact English", "difference": "This manually coded system represents English structure, whereas ASL is an independently developed natural language." }, { "name": "British Sign Language", "difference": "It is a distinct sign language; the surrounding countries' shared use of English does not imply shared sign language." }, { "name": "French Sign Language", "difference": "It is historically related to ASL but remains a distinct language, not an alternative name for ASL." }, { "name": "Fingerspelling", "difference": "Fingerspelling represents written letter sequences and is one resource within ASL, not the whole language." }, { "name": "SignWriting", "difference": "It is a writing system usable for signed languages, not ASL itself or its universally adopted orthography." } ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-neighbours-q01", "text": "Which of these neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart hold for the sense of American Sign Language this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "openQuestions": [ "Which current authority identifiers and classification boundaries should be linked to this registry entry, and where do authorities disagree?", "Which dated ASL user estimates have sufficiently explicit sampling and inclusion criteria to support comparison?", "How should community-described varieties, contact signing, and tactile adaptations be related to this entry without imposing unsupported language boundaries?", "Which jurisdictions and educational institutions should the first researched version cover, and which operative instruments establish their recognition or access provisions?", "Which community-reviewed criteria establish adequate capture, annotation, and translation quality for the intended ASL tasks?" ], "statistics": { "bundles": 5, "layers": 9, "findings": 16, "questions": 24 } }, "draft": { "generator": "vr.draft.v3", "status": "draft-generated", "researched": false, "archetype": "language", "method": "Written from the archetype playbook - what this kind of thing needs beyond identity and provenance - and from the structure that recurred across 6,333 models already researched by two engines. Applied to this entry by rule. No source was read for this thing and no claim here is researched. This entry carries no facets of its own, so they were inferred from its domain - a guess about a whole domain applied to one thing.", "facetsInferred": true, "nextPass": "A researcher replaces this draft with a sourced specification. Treat every sentence below as a proposal to argue with.", "purpose": "Give an agent a durable, checkable way to recognise a American Sign Language, record what state it is in, and decide what may be done with it.", "whatItIs": "Enable an AI agent to identify American Sign Language, assess evidence about its use and accessibility, and choose appropriate language resources or communication support.", "characteristics": { "substance": "information", "origin": "conceptual", "agency": "inert" }, "whatYouCanDoWithIt": [ "read and interpreted", "observed and measured" ], "distinguishingFeatures": [ "Names folded into this entry, which a task may need to split apart again: Haitian Sign Language, Quebec Sign Language, Chiriquí Sign Language, Black American Sign Language, Colombian Sign Language, Malaysian Sign Language, Ecuadorian Sign Language, Ghanaian Sign Language, Honduran Sign Language, Peruvian Sign Language, Costa Rican Sign Language, Francophone African Sign Language.", "19 finer distinctions are held as aliases rather than separate entries, because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it.", "Described in 66 Wikipedia languages, which is a measure of how widely the thing is known, not of how important it is." ], "openQuestionsForResearch": [ "Which of the bundles below does a real task actually need, and which are ceremony?", "What does this thing have that the facets do not capture at all?", "Which neighbouring kind is most often confused with a American Sign Language, and on what evidence are they told apart?" ], "whatItIsMadeOf": "content that has to be carried by something else", "physicalCharacter": [ "Does nothing on its own; everything it does, something else did to it.", "These come from the domain this entry sits in rather than from the entry itself, so treat them as a first guess about the whole domain applied to one thing." ], "whatCanBeDoneWithIt": [ "read it and act on what it says", "observe it, measure it, record its state" ], "howItIsRecognised": [ "Recognised from text or speech by script, vocabulary and grammar - and script is the weakest of the three, since several languages share one." ], "relatedModels": [ { "relation": "covers", "note": "Finer kinds folded into this entry because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it. Each is a model waiting to be split out when one does.", "targets": [ "Haitian Sign Language", "Quebec Sign Language", "Chiriquí Sign Language", "Black American Sign Language", "Colombian Sign Language", "Malaysian Sign Language", "Ecuadorian Sign Language", "Ghanaian Sign Language", "Honduran Sign Language", "Peruvian Sign Language", "Costa Rican Sign Language", "Francophone African Sign Language" ] } ], "standing": "Described in 66 Wikipedia languages, which measures how widely it is written about rather than how important or how common it is. 19 finer distinctions are held inside this entry as names rather than as separate models.", "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "identity-and-classification", "name": "Identity, naming and classification", "description": "How an agent tells one American Sign Language from another, and a American Sign Language from things that resemble it.", "rationale": "Recognition comes before every other claim. Without stable identity nothing else in the model can be trusted to be about the same thing twice.", "layers": [ { "id": "naming-and-identifiers", "name": "Names and identifiers", "description": "The names this thing goes by and the identifiers that survive translation and time.", "findings": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases", "name": "Preferred name, aliases and local names", "description": "Which name to use, which names mean the same thing, and which merely sound similar.", "questions": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the name of a American Sign Language, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the name of a American Sign Language, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the name of a American Sign Language is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers", "name": "Stable identifiers and external keys", "description": "Identifiers that keep pointing at this kind of thing across systems and languages.", "questions": [ { "id": "stable-identifiers-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an identifier for a American Sign Language, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an identifier for a American Sign Language, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an identifier for a American Sign Language is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "classification-and-granularity", "name": "Classification and granularity", "description": "Where a American Sign Language sits among kinds, and how finely a task needs to cut it.", "findings": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents", "name": "Kind, parents and neighbouring kinds", "description": "The classes this thing belongs to and the ones it is next to.", "questions": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the kind of a American Sign Language, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the kind of a American Sign Language, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the kind of a American Sign Language is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features", "name": "Distinguishing features", "description": "What separates a American Sign Language from the things most often confused with it.", "questions": [ { "id": "distinguishing-features-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes what distinguishes a American Sign Language, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about what distinguishes a American Sign Language, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once what distinguishes a American Sign Language is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "state-and-lifecycle", "name": "State and lifecycle", "description": "The states a American Sign Language passes through and the events that move it between them.", "rationale": "Most decisions about a thing depend on what state it is in now, which is a claim with a time on it, not a property.", "layers": [ { "id": "lifecycle-stages", "name": "Lifecycle stages", "description": "From coming into existence to ceasing to be one of these.", "findings": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions", "name": "Stages and transitions", "description": "The stages worth naming and what moves a American Sign Language between them.", "questions": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the lifecycle of a American Sign Language, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the lifecycle of a American Sign Language, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the lifecycle of a American Sign Language is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "observations-and-status", "name": "Observations and current status", "description": "What is observed about a American Sign Language, how often and by whom.", "findings": [ { "id": "observation-record", "name": "Observation record", "description": "How an observation of a American Sign Language is recorded so that it can be superseded rather than overwritten.", "questions": [ { "id": "observation-record-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an observation of a American Sign Language, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an observation of a American Sign Language, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an observation of a American Sign Language is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "content-and-access", "name": "Content, encoding and access", "description": "What a American Sign Language says, how it is encoded and who may read it.", "rationale": "An informational thing carries content that can be copied, versioned and withheld, none of which its physical carrier explains.", "layers": [ { "id": "content-and-encoding", "name": "Content and encoding", "description": "The content itself, its format and its language.", "findings": [ { "id": "content-and-format", "name": "Content, format and language", "description": "What a American Sign Language contains and in what form it is held.", "questions": [ { "id": "content-and-format-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the content of a American Sign Language, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "content-and-format-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the content of a American Sign Language, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "content-and-format-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the content of a American Sign Language is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "access-and-rights", "name": "Access, rights and retention", "description": "Who may read, copy or change it, and for how long it is kept.", "findings": [ { "id": "access-rules", "name": "Access rules and retention", "description": "The permissions attached to a American Sign Language and the period it survives.", "questions": [ { "id": "access-rules-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes access to a American Sign Language, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "access-rules-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about access to a American Sign Language, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "access-rules-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once access to a American Sign Language is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "speakers-and-standing", "name": "Speakers, communities and standing", "description": "Who speaks American Sign Language, how many, and what status it holds where they live.", "rationale": "Speaker numbers move, and legal standing changes without the language changing. Both are claims with a date and a source, never properties.", "layers": [ { "id": "speaker-populations", "name": "Speaker populations", "description": "Counts by kind of speaker, each with the year and the method behind it.", "findings": [ { "id": "population-estimates", "name": "Population estimates and their basis", "description": "First-language and second-language counts, who produced them and how.", "questions": [ { "id": "population-estimates-q01", "text": "How many first-language and second-language speakers of American Sign Language are claimed, for which year, and by whom?", "kind": "measurement" }, { "id": "population-estimates-q02", "text": "What method produced that estimate - census, survey, projection - and what does it systematically miss?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "official-standing", "name": "Official standing and policy", "description": "Where American Sign Language is official, taught, or barred, and under which instrument.", "findings": [ { "id": "legal-status", "name": "Legal status by jurisdiction", "description": "The status held in each place, with the law or treaty that grants it.", "questions": [ { "id": "legal-status-q01", "text": "In which jurisdictions does American Sign Language hold official, regional or minority status, and under what instrument?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "legal-status-q02", "text": "What follows practically from that status - schooling, courts, signage - and what does not?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "varieties-and-writing", "name": "Varieties, registers and writing", "description": "The forms American Sign Language takes, and the scripts and spellings used to write it.", "rationale": "A language is not its script and a standard is not the whole language. A model that conflates them cannot say which variety a text is in.", "layers": [ { "id": "varieties-and-continuum", "name": "Varieties and the continuum", "description": "Dialects, standards and the cuts drawn through a continuum that has none of its own.", "findings": [ { "id": "variety-inventory", "name": "Varieties and who separated them", "description": "Named varieties, their relation to the standard, and the authority behind each split.", "questions": [ { "id": "variety-inventory-q01", "text": "Which varieties of American Sign Language are distinguished in practice, and who drew each boundary?", "kind": "boundary" }, { "id": "variety-inventory-q02", "text": "Which neighbouring lect is treated as the same language by one authority and a different one by another?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "script-and-orthography", "name": "Script and orthography", "description": "Writing systems in use, competing spellings, and reform history.", "findings": [ { "id": "writing-systems", "name": "Writing systems and orthographies", "description": "Scripts American Sign Language is written in and which spelling convention applies where.", "questions": [ { "id": "writing-systems-q01", "text": "Which scripts and orthographies are in use for American Sign Language, and where does each apply?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "writing-systems-q02", "text": "What identifies the orthography of a given text, and what should an agent do when it cannot tell?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "codes-and-alignment", "name": "Codes and external alignment", "description": "The identifiers that name American Sign Language across systems.", "rationale": "Language codes are how every other system will refer to this, and they disagree with each other in known ways.", "layers": [ { "id": "identifier-schemes", "name": "Identifier schemes", "description": "ISO 639 parts, Glottolog, and the granularity each assumes.", "findings": [ { "id": "codes-and-granularity", "name": "Codes and the granularity they encode", "description": "Which code refers to this language and which refers to a group containing it.", "questions": [ { "id": "codes-and-granularity-q01", "text": "Which ISO 639-1, 639-2 and 639-3 codes apply to American Sign Language, and do they refer to the same extent?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "codes-and-granularity-q02", "text": "Where do the schemes disagree about whether this is one language or several?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "provenance-and-evidence", "name": "Provenance, evidence and time", "description": "Where every claim about a American Sign Language came from and when it held.", "rationale": "A claim without a source and a time cannot be superseded, only overwritten, and an agent that overwrites loses the ability to explain itself.", "layers": [ { "id": "source-and-authority", "name": "Source and authority", "description": "Who said it, on what evidence, and how strongly.", "findings": [ { "id": "claim-provenance", "name": "Claim provenance and confidence", "description": "The authority behind each claim about a American Sign Language and how confident it is.", "questions": [ { "id": "claim-provenance-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a claim about a American Sign Language, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about a claim about a American Sign Language, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a claim about a American Sign Language is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "time-and-versions", "name": "Time, versions and supersession", "description": "When a claim was true, when it was learnt, and what replaced it.", "findings": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession", "name": "Validity period and supersession", "description": "How an old claim about a American Sign Language is retired without being erased.", "questions": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the validity of a claim about a American Sign Language, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the validity of a claim about a American Sign Language, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the validity of a claim about a American Sign Language is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "statistics": { "bundles": 7, "layers": 13, "findings": 15, "questions": 40 } } } }