{ "model": { "rank": 1211, "code": "thing-q23492", "model_id": "vr.tr.official-language", "name": "official language", "purpose": "Let an agent explain official language status and its varieties, relay examples and legal frameworks from language policy sources with attribution, describe the difference between official, national and state languages, and distinguish official status from majority use and from de facto official languages.", "family": "Thing Registry", "category": "Information and virtual systems", "status": "research-draft", "kind": "thing", "plane": "INF", "domain": "INF.MED", "industry": "", "version": "", "url": "/models/thing/q23492/", "tier": 2, "score": 168, "payload": { "layer": "wikidata", "aliases": [ "linguistic co-officiality", "State language of Kyrgyzstan", "official languages of the European Union", "additional official language", "official languages of the United Nations", "Languages with official status in India", "official languages of Puducherry", "official languages of Russia", "semi-offical language", "Schedule languages of India" ], "aliasCount": 10, "merged": 10, "knownIn": 168, "facets": null, "markers": [], "lexicalClass": "", "senseRank": null, "alsoRegisteredAs": null, "source": { "dataset": "wikidata", "item": "Q23492", "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q23492", "license": "CC0 1.0" } }, "research": { "vercy": "1.0-draft", "publication": { "status": "research-draft", "adjudicationStatus": "unreviewed", "publishableCanonical": false, "generatedAt": "2026-09-13T05:23:20Z", "providers": [ "Claude" ], "breadth": "written by Claude from model knowledge without web access - no source was read, every claim is a lead to verify", "pass": 2, "wave": 3, "engine": "claude" }, "metaModel": { "id": "THING-Q23492", "registryId": "vr.tr.official-language", "name": "official language", "version": "0.2.0-wave.3", "entryKind": "thing", "family": "Thing Registry", "domain": [ "INF.MED" ], "status": "research-draft" }, "canonicalUrl": "https://ver.cy/models/thing/q23492/", "model": { "registry_id": "vr.tr.official-language", "name": "official language", "purpose": "Let an agent explain official language status and its varieties, relay examples and legal frameworks from language policy sources with attribution, describe the difference between official, national and state languages, and distinguish official status from majority use and from de facto official languages.", "definition": "A language given special legal status in a country, state or organisation, used in government, courts, education and official documents, whether as the sole official language, one of several co-official languages, an additional official language for particular regions or purposes, or the working languages of international bodies such as the six official languages of the United Nations and the 24 of the European Union; many countries, such as India with its scheduled languages or Kyrgyzstan with Kyrgyz as state language and Russian as official, distinguish between state, official and national languages.", "what_it_is_for": "Not applicable; a legal status.", "affordances": [ "explain the status", "relay examples and frameworks", "describe distinctions", "distinguish from de facto use" ], "distinguishing_features": [ "Legal designation", "Government use", "Sole or co-official", "Varies by level" ], "appearance": "Not a visible object; a legal designation.", "visual_identification": [ "Language with legal status in government", "Sole and co-official languages, additional official languages, state languages, EU and UN official languages, languages with official status in India", "A national language may be symbolic; a de facto official language has no law; a majority language may lack status" ], "physical_properties": [ { "quantity": "UN official languages", "typical_range": "6", "unit": "count", "note": "" }, { "quantity": "EU official languages", "typical_range": "24", "unit": "count", "note": "" }, { "quantity": "countries with no de jure official language", "typical_range": "several", "unit": "count", "note": "such as the United States federally" } ], "families_and_kinds": [ "sole official languages", "co-official languages and linguistic co-officiality", "additional and regional official languages", "state languages as in Kyrgyzstan", "official languages of international organisations such as the UN and EU", "scheduled and official languages in India" ], "related_models": [ { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "language", "why": "in registry terms, as a status" }, { "relation": "is set by", "target": "language policy", "why": "and constitutions" }, { "relation": "is exemplified by", "target": "official languages of the United Nations", "why": "six languages" }, { "relation": "is contrasted with", "target": "national language", "why": "a symbolic or cultural designation" } ], "identifiers": [], "standards_and_regulation": [ "Constitutions and language laws", "EU regulation 1 of 1958 on languages", "UN rules of procedure on official and working languages", "European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages" ], "failure_modes_and_hazards": [ "Confusing official, national and state languages", "Assuming majority languages are official", "Political framing of language disputes" ], "in_scope": [], "out_of_scope": [], "characteristics": [] }, "sources": [], "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "understand", "name": "Understand", "description": "What an official language is.", "rationale": "Definition.", "layers": [ { "id": "definition", "name": "Definition", "description": "Definition.", "findings": [ { "id": "definition-finding", "name": "Definition", "description": "Definition.", "questions": [ { "text": "What is an official language, and how does it differ from national, state and de facto official languages?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Is the question about the status in general or a specific country or organisation?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "kinds", "name": "Kinds", "description": "Kinds.", "findings": [ { "id": "kinds-finding", "name": "Kinds", "description": "Kinds.", "questions": [ { "text": "What are sole, co-official, additional and regional official languages?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Which entry fits the specific kind?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "examples", "name": "Examples", "description": "Examples.", "rationale": "Sources.", "layers": [ { "id": "countries", "name": "Countries", "description": "Countries.", "findings": [ { "id": "countries-finding", "name": "Countries", "description": "Countries.", "questions": [ { "text": "How do India, Kyrgyzstan, Switzerland, Canada and other countries define official languages?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which references are standard?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "organisations", "name": "Organisations", "description": "International organisations.", "findings": [ { "id": "organisations-finding", "name": "Organisations", "description": "Organisations.", "questions": [ { "text": "What are the official and working languages of the UN and EU, and how are they used?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which sources are cited?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "policy", "name": "Policy", "description": "Policy and rights.", "rationale": "Attribution.", "layers": [ { "id": "rights", "name": "Rights", "description": "Language rights.", "findings": [ { "id": "rights-finding", "name": "Rights", "description": "Rights.", "questions": [ { "text": "What rights does official status confer for citizens, courts and education?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits linguistic rights?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] }, { "id": "debates", "name": "Debates", "description": "Debates.", "findings": [ { "id": "debates-finding", "name": "Debates", "description": "Debates.", "questions": [ { "text": "What debates surround official language choices and minority languages, with positions attributed?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Is the presentation neutral?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "context", "name": "Context", "description": "History and data.", "rationale": "Context.", "layers": [ { "id": "history", "name": "History", "description": "History.", "findings": [ { "id": "history-finding", "name": "History", "description": "History.", "questions": [ { "text": "How did the idea of official languages develop with nation states?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits the history of language policy?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] }, { "id": "data", "name": "Data", "description": "Data.", "findings": [ { "id": "data-finding", "name": "Data", "description": "Data.", "questions": [ { "text": "Where are lists of official languages by country maintained?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits list of official languages by country?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "openQuestions": [ "Should the EU and UN official languages be separate primary entries?", "How should language policy sources be linked?", "The registry entry has merged aliases naming specific countries and organisations; should they be split off?" ], "statistics": { "bundles": 4, "layers": 8, "findings": 8, "questions": 16 } }, "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 official language, record what state it is in, and decide what may be done with it.", "whatItIs": "Let an agent explain official language status and its varieties, relay examples and legal frameworks from language policy sources with attribution, describe the difference between official, national and state languages, and distinguish official status from majority use and from de facto official languages.", "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: linguistic co-officiality, State language of Kyrgyzstan, official languages of the European Union, additional official language, official languages of the United Nations, Languages with official status in India, official languages of Puducherry, official languages of Russia, semi-offical language, Schedule languages of India.", "10 finer distinctions are held as aliases rather than separate entries, because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it.", "Described in 168 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 official 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": [ "linguistic co-officiality", "State language of Kyrgyzstan", "official languages of the European Union", "additional official language", "official languages of the United Nations", "Languages with official status in India", "official languages of Puducherry", "official languages of Russia", "semi-offical language", "Schedule languages of India" ] } ], "standing": "Described in 168 Wikipedia languages, which measures how widely it is written about rather than how important or how common it is. 10 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 official language from another, and a official 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 official 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 official 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 official 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 official 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 official 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 official 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 official 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 official 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 official 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 official 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 official language from the things most often confused with it.", "questions": [ { "id": "distinguishing-features-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes what distinguishes a official 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 official 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 official 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 official 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 official language between them.", "questions": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the lifecycle of a official 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 official 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 official 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 official language, how often and by whom.", "findings": [ { "id": "observation-record", "name": "Observation record", "description": "How an observation of a official 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 official 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 official 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 official 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 official 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 official language contains and in what form it is held.", "questions": [ { "id": "content-and-format-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the content of a official 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 official 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 official 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 official language and the period it survives.", "questions": [ { "id": "access-rules-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes access to a official 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 official 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 official 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 official 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 official 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 official 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 official 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 official 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 official 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 official language is written in and which spelling convention applies where.", "questions": [ { "id": "writing-systems-q01", "text": "Which scripts and orthographies are in use for official 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 official 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 official 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 official 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 official language and how confident it is.", "questions": [ { "id": "claim-provenance-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a claim about a official 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 official 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 official 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 official language is retired without being erased.", "questions": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the validity of a claim about a official 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 official 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 official 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 } } } }