first language
Generated draft, first pass
This model was drafted by rule from what the registry knows about the thing. It proposes which bundles a real model will need and which questions research must answer. It is not researched and no sentence in it is sourced.
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.
Generator: vr.draft.v3
Purpose and description
Give an agent a durable, checkable way to recognise a first language, record what state it is in, and decide what may be done with it.
An informational thing registered under INF.MED. The registry names it; this draft has not been given a definition yet.
It can be read and interpreted; observed and measured.
Distinguishing features
Names folded into this entry, which a task may need to split apart again: primary non-English language spoken at home.
1 finer distinctions are held as aliases rather than separate entries, because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it.
Described in 135 Wikipedia languages, which is a measure of how widely the thing is known, not of how important it is.
Physical character
Made of: content that has to be carried by something else.
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.
How it is recognised
Recognised from text or speech by script, vocabulary and grammar - and script is the weakest of the three, since several languages share one.
Related models
covers - 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.
Described in 135 Wikipedia languages, which measures how widely it is written about rather than how important or how common it is. 1 finer distinctions are held inside this entry as names rather than as separate models.
Also called
Where this came from
wikidata · CC0 1.0
Drafted structure
Bundle to layer to finding to question, as the second pass will find it: 7 bundles · 13 layers · 15 findings · 40 questions.
Identity, naming and classification How an agent tells one first language from another, and a first language from things that resemble it.
Recognition comes before every other claim. Without stable identity nothing else in the model can be trusted to be about the same thing twice.
Names and identifiers
The names this thing goes by and the identifiers that survive translation and time.
Preferred name, aliases and local names
Which name to use, which names mean the same thing, and which merely sound similar.
- What identifies and describes the name of a first language, and in what units or vocabulary? definition
- Who or what asserted this about the name of a first language, by which method, and when was it true? provenance
- What may an agent decide or do once the name of a first language is known, and what must it refuse? action
Stable identifiers and external keys
Identifiers that keep pointing at this kind of thing across systems and languages.
- What identifies and describes an identifier for a first language, and in what units or vocabulary? definition
- Who or what asserted this about an identifier for a first language, by which method, and when was it true? provenance
- What may an agent decide or do once an identifier for a first language is known, and what must it refuse? action
Classification and granularity
Where a first language sits among kinds, and how finely a task needs to cut it.
Kind, parents and neighbouring kinds
The classes this thing belongs to and the ones it is next to.
- What identifies and describes the kind of a first language, and in what units or vocabulary? definition
- Who or what asserted this about the kind of a first language, by which method, and when was it true? provenance
- What may an agent decide or do once the kind of a first language is known, and what must it refuse? action
Distinguishing features
What separates a first language from the things most often confused with it.
- What identifies and describes what distinguishes a first language, and in what units or vocabulary? definition
- Who or what asserted this about what distinguishes a first language, by which method, and when was it true? provenance
- What may an agent decide or do once what distinguishes a first language is known, and what must it refuse? action
State and lifecycle The states a first language passes through and the events that move it between them.
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.
Lifecycle stages
From coming into existence to ceasing to be one of these.
Stages and transitions
The stages worth naming and what moves a first language between them.
- What identifies and describes the lifecycle of a first language, and in what units or vocabulary? definition
- Who or what asserted this about the lifecycle of a first language, by which method, and when was it true? provenance
- What may an agent decide or do once the lifecycle of a first language is known, and what must it refuse? action
Observations and current status
What is observed about a first language, how often and by whom.
Observation record
How an observation of a first language is recorded so that it can be superseded rather than overwritten.
- What identifies and describes an observation of a first language, and in what units or vocabulary? definition
- Who or what asserted this about an observation of a first language, by which method, and when was it true? provenance
- What may an agent decide or do once an observation of a first language is known, and what must it refuse? action
Content, encoding and access What a first language says, how it is encoded and who may read it.
An informational thing carries content that can be copied, versioned and withheld, none of which its physical carrier explains.
Content and encoding
The content itself, its format and its language.
Content, format and language
What a first language contains and in what form it is held.
- What identifies and describes the content of a first language, and in what units or vocabulary? definition
- Who or what asserted this about the content of a first language, by which method, and when was it true? provenance
- What may an agent decide or do once the content of a first language is known, and what must it refuse? action
Access, rights and retention
Who may read, copy or change it, and for how long it is kept.
Access rules and retention
The permissions attached to a first language and the period it survives.
- What identifies and describes access to a first language, and in what units or vocabulary? definition
- Who or what asserted this about access to a first language, by which method, and when was it true? provenance
- What may an agent decide or do once access to a first language is known, and what must it refuse? action
Speakers, communities and standing Who speaks first language, how many, and what status it holds where they live.
Speaker numbers move, and legal standing changes without the language changing. Both are claims with a date and a source, never properties.
Speaker populations
Counts by kind of speaker, each with the year and the method behind it.
Population estimates and their basis
First-language and second-language counts, who produced them and how.
- How many first-language and second-language speakers of first language are claimed, for which year, and by whom? measurement
- What method produced that estimate - census, survey, projection - and what does it systematically miss? provenance
Official standing and policy
Where first language is official, taught, or barred, and under which instrument.
Legal status by jurisdiction
The status held in each place, with the law or treaty that grants it.
- In which jurisdictions does first language hold official, regional or minority status, and under what instrument? definition
- What follows practically from that status - schooling, courts, signage - and what does not? action
Varieties, registers and writing The forms first language takes, and the scripts and spellings used to write it.
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.
Varieties and the continuum
Dialects, standards and the cuts drawn through a continuum that has none of its own.
Varieties and who separated them
Named varieties, their relation to the standard, and the authority behind each split.
- Which varieties of first language are distinguished in practice, and who drew each boundary? boundary
- Which neighbouring lect is treated as the same language by one authority and a different one by another? boundary
Script and orthography
Writing systems in use, competing spellings, and reform history.
Writing systems and orthographies
Scripts first language is written in and which spelling convention applies where.
- Which scripts and orthographies are in use for first language, and where does each apply? definition
- What identifies the orthography of a given text, and what should an agent do when it cannot tell? action
Codes and external alignment The identifiers that name first language across systems.
Language codes are how every other system will refer to this, and they disagree with each other in known ways.
Identifier schemes
ISO 639 parts, Glottolog, and the granularity each assumes.
Codes and the granularity they encode
Which code refers to this language and which refers to a group containing it.
- Which ISO 639-1, 639-2 and 639-3 codes apply to first language, and do they refer to the same extent? definition
- Where do the schemes disagree about whether this is one language or several? boundary
Provenance, evidence and time Where every claim about a first language came from and when it held.
A claim without a source and a time cannot be superseded, only overwritten, and an agent that overwrites loses the ability to explain itself.
Source and authority
Who said it, on what evidence, and how strongly.
Claim provenance and confidence
The authority behind each claim about a first language and how confident it is.
- What identifies and describes a claim about a first language, and in what units or vocabulary? definition
- Who or what asserted this about a claim about a first language, by which method, and when was it true? provenance
- What may an agent decide or do once a claim about a first language is known, and what must it refuse? action
Time, versions and supersession
When a claim was true, when it was learnt, and what replaced it.
Validity period and supersession
How an old claim about a first language is retired without being erased.
- What identifies and describes the validity of a claim about a first language, and in what units or vocabulary? definition
- Who or what asserted this about the validity of a claim about a first language, by which method, and when was it true? provenance
- What may an agent decide or do once the validity of a claim about a first language is known, and what must it refuse? action
What the second pass must settle
- 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 first language, and on what evidence are they told apart?