standard 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 standard 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: interdialectal standard language, pluricentric language, cognitive academic language proficiency.
3 finer distinctions are held as aliases rather than separate entries, because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it.
Described in 78 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 78 Wikipedia languages, which measures how widely it is written about rather than how important or how common it is. 3 finer distinctions are held inside this entry as names rather than as separate models.
Also called
Where this came from
wikidata · CC0 1.0
Also registered as vr.tr.standard-language
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 standard language from another, and a standard 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 standard language, and in what units or vocabulary? definition
- Who or what asserted this about the name of a standard language, by which method, and when was it true? provenance
- What may an agent decide or do once the name of a standard 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 standard language, and in what units or vocabulary? definition
- Who or what asserted this about an identifier for a standard language, by which method, and when was it true? provenance
- What may an agent decide or do once an identifier for a standard language is known, and what must it refuse? action
Classification and granularity
Where a standard 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 standard language, and in what units or vocabulary? definition
- Who or what asserted this about the kind of a standard language, by which method, and when was it true? provenance
- What may an agent decide or do once the kind of a standard language is known, and what must it refuse? action
Distinguishing features
What separates a standard language from the things most often confused with it.
- What identifies and describes what distinguishes a standard language, and in what units or vocabulary? definition
- Who or what asserted this about what distinguishes a standard language, by which method, and when was it true? provenance
- What may an agent decide or do once what distinguishes a standard language is known, and what must it refuse? action
State and lifecycle The states a standard 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 standard language between them.
- What identifies and describes the lifecycle of a standard language, and in what units or vocabulary? definition
- Who or what asserted this about the lifecycle of a standard language, by which method, and when was it true? provenance
- What may an agent decide or do once the lifecycle of a standard language is known, and what must it refuse? action
Observations and current status
What is observed about a standard language, how often and by whom.
Observation record
How an observation of a standard language is recorded so that it can be superseded rather than overwritten.
- What identifies and describes an observation of a standard language, and in what units or vocabulary? definition
- Who or what asserted this about an observation of a standard language, by which method, and when was it true? provenance
- What may an agent decide or do once an observation of a standard language is known, and what must it refuse? action
Content, encoding and access What a standard 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 standard language contains and in what form it is held.
- What identifies and describes the content of a standard language, and in what units or vocabulary? definition
- Who or what asserted this about the content of a standard language, by which method, and when was it true? provenance
- What may an agent decide or do once the content of a standard 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 standard language and the period it survives.
- What identifies and describes access to a standard language, and in what units or vocabulary? definition
- Who or what asserted this about access to a standard language, by which method, and when was it true? provenance
- What may an agent decide or do once access to a standard language is known, and what must it refuse? action
Speakers, communities and standing Who speaks standard 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 standard 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 standard 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 standard 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 standard 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 standard 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 standard language is written in and which spelling convention applies where.
- Which scripts and orthographies are in use for standard 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 standard 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 standard 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 standard 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 standard language and how confident it is.
- What identifies and describes a claim about a standard language, and in what units or vocabulary? definition
- Who or what asserted this about a claim about a standard language, by which method, and when was it true? provenance
- What may an agent decide or do once a claim about a standard 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 standard language is retired without being erased.
- What identifies and describes the validity of a claim about a standard language, and in what units or vocabulary? definition
- Who or what asserted this about the validity of a claim about a standard 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 standard 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 standard language, and on what evidence are they told apart?