{ "model": { "rank": 975, "code": "thing-q7838", "model_id": "vr.tr.swahili", "name": "Swahili", "purpose": "Let an agent describe Swahili, its dialects, history and status from linguistic sources, relay speaker figures with sources, explain its grammar and writing in outline, and point to learning and reference resources.", "family": "Thing Registry", "category": "Information and virtual systems", "status": "research-draft", "kind": "thing", "plane": "INF", "domain": "INF.MED", "industry": "", "version": "", "url": "/models/thing/q7838/", "tier": 2, "score": 209, "payload": { "layer": "wikidata", "aliases": [ "Congo Swahili", "Kiamu", "Kingozi", "Kiunguja", "KiKAR", "Kiswahili", "Sheng", "Bajuni dialect", "Bravanese", "Cifundi dialect", "Kihadimu", "Sidi", "Socotra Swahili" ], "aliasCount": 13, "merged": 13, "knownIn": 209, "facets": null, "markers": [], "lexicalClass": "", "senseRank": null, "alsoRegisteredAs": null, "source": { "dataset": "wikidata", "item": "Q7838", "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7838", "license": "CC0 1.0" } }, "research": { "vercy": "1.0-draft", "publication": { "status": "research-draft", "adjudicationStatus": "unreviewed", "publishableCanonical": false, "generatedAt": "2026-09-12T21:47:58Z", "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-Q7838", "registryId": "vr.tr.swahili", "name": "Swahili", "version": "0.2.0-wave.3", "entryKind": "thing", "family": "Thing Registry", "domain": [ "INF.MED" ], "status": "research-draft" }, "canonicalUrl": "https://ver.cy/models/thing/q7838/", "model": { "registry_id": "vr.tr.swahili", "name": "Swahili", "purpose": "Let an agent describe Swahili, its dialects, history and status from linguistic sources, relay speaker figures with sources, explain its grammar and writing in outline, and point to learning and reference resources.", "definition": "A Bantu language of the Sabaki group spoken as a first language along the East African coast and islands and as a lingua franca by tens of millions across Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and neighbouring countries; called Kiswahili by its speakers, it has many dialects such as Kiunguja, Kiamu and Congo Swahili, a large Arabic-derived vocabulary, a standard form based on Zanzibar speech, and official status in several states and the African Union.", "what_it_is_for": "Communication across East and Central Africa.", "affordances": [ "describe the language, dialects and status", "relay speaker figures with sources", "explain grammar and writing in outline", "point to learning resources" ], "distinguishing_features": [ "Bantu grammar with noun classes", "Large Arabic-derived vocabulary", "Lingua franca across East Africa", "Standard based on Kiunguja" ], "appearance": "Not a visible object; written in the Latin alphabet today and historically in Arabic script.", "visual_identification": [ "Bantu language of the Sabaki group", "Noun class system and Arabic loanwords", "Comorian and Mijikenda are related Sabaki languages, not Swahili" ], "physical_properties": [ { "quantity": "first language speakers", "typical_range": "about 15-20 million", "unit": "people", "note": "estimates vary" }, { "quantity": "total speakers", "typical_range": "about 100-200 million", "unit": "people", "note": "estimates vary widely" }, { "quantity": "noun classes", "typical_range": "about 15-18", "unit": "count", "note": "by analysis" } ], "families_and_kinds": [ "Standard Swahili", "coastal dialects such as Kiunguja, Kiamu and Kimvita", "Congo Swahili and other inland varieties", "historical and literary forms such as Kingozi", "pidginised forms such as KiKAR", "Sheng and other urban mixes as related codes" ], "related_models": [ { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "Sabaki language", "why": "the subgroup" }, { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "Bantu language", "why": "the family" }, { "relation": "is official in", "target": "Tanzania", "why": "and Kenya and Uganda" }, { "relation": "is related to", "target": "Comorian", "why": "a sister language" } ], "identifiers": [ { "scheme": "ISO 639-1", "value_or_pattern": "sw", "note": "" }, { "scheme": "ISO 639-3", "value_or_pattern": "swa", "note": "macrolanguage, with swh and swc" } ], "standards_and_regulation": [ "National language policies of Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda", "African Union working language status", "Standardisation bodies such as BAKITA in Tanzania" ], "failure_modes_and_hazards": [ "Conflating dialects with the standard", "Unsourced speaker figures", "Ignoring regional varieties" ], "in_scope": [], "out_of_scope": [], "characteristics": [] }, "sources": [], "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "identify", "name": "Identify", "description": "What Swahili is.", "rationale": "Identity.", "layers": [ { "id": "definition", "name": "Definition", "description": "Language and varieties.", "findings": [ { "id": "definition-finding", "name": "Definition", "description": "Definition.", "questions": [ { "text": "What is Swahili, and what dialects and varieties exist?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Is the question about Swahili or a related Sabaki language?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "status", "name": "Status", "description": "Status and speakers.", "findings": [ { "id": "status-finding", "name": "Status", "description": "Status.", "questions": [ { "text": "Where is Swahili official or widely spoken, and how many speak it, with sources?", "kind": "measurement" }, { "text": "Which sources are cited?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "structure", "name": "Structure", "description": "Grammar and writing.", "rationale": "Linguistics.", "layers": [ { "id": "grammar", "name": "Grammar", "description": "Grammar.", "findings": [ { "id": "grammar-finding", "name": "Grammar", "description": "Grammar.", "questions": [ { "text": "How do noun classes, agreement and verb morphology work in outline?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Which entry fits Bantu grammar?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] }, { "id": "writing", "name": "Writing", "description": "Writing and vocabulary.", "findings": [ { "id": "writing-finding", "name": "Writing", "description": "Writing.", "questions": [ { "text": "How is Swahili written, and where does its vocabulary come from?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which references are standard?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "history", "name": "History", "description": "History and culture.", "rationale": "Attribution.", "layers": [ { "id": "history", "name": "History", "description": "History.", "findings": [ { "id": "history-finding", "name": "History", "description": "History.", "questions": [ { "text": "How did Swahili develop on the coast and spread inland, as linguists and historians describe?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits Swahili culture?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] }, { "id": "literature", "name": "Literature", "description": "Literature.", "findings": [ { "id": "literature-finding", "name": "Literature", "description": "Literature.", "questions": [ { "text": "What are the main traditions of Swahili literature and media?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits a specific work or author?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "learn", "name": "Learn", "description": "Learning and policy.", "rationale": "Practice.", "layers": [ { "id": "learning", "name": "Learning", "description": "Learning resources.", "findings": [ { "id": "learning-finding", "name": "Learning", "description": "Learning.", "questions": [ { "text": "Which resources exist for learning Swahili?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits language learning?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] }, { "id": "policy", "name": "Policy", "description": "Language policy.", "findings": [ { "id": "policy-finding", "name": "Policy", "description": "Policy.", "questions": [ { "text": "How do language policies and standardisation bodies shape Swahili?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Is the information current?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "openQuestions": [ "Should major dialects be separate entries?", "How should corpora and dictionaries be linked?", "The registry entry has merged aliases naming dialects and a pidgin; 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": "work, medium or creative form", "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 Swahili, record what state it is in, and decide what may be done with it.", "whatItIs": "Let an agent describe Swahili, its dialects, history and status from linguistic sources, relay speaker figures with sources, explain its grammar and writing in outline, and point to learning and reference resources.", "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: Congo Swahili, Kiamu, Kingozi, Kiunguja, KiKAR, Kiswahili, Sheng, Bajuni dialect, Bravanese, Cifundi dialect, Kihadimu, Sidi.", "13 finer distinctions are held as aliases rather than separate entries, because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it.", "Described in 209 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 Swahili, 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": [ "What is seen is a copy or a performance, not the work. Recognising the work means recognising the content through whatever is carrying it." ], "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": [ "Congo Swahili", "Kiamu", "Kingozi", "Kiunguja", "KiKAR", "Kiswahili", "Sheng", "Bajuni dialect", "Bravanese", "Cifundi dialect", "Kihadimu", "Sidi" ] } ], "standing": "Described in 209 Wikipedia languages, which measures how widely it is written about rather than how important or how common it is. 13 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 Swahili from another, and a Swahili 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 Swahili, 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 Swahili, 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 Swahili 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 Swahili, 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 Swahili, 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 Swahili 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 Swahili 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 Swahili, 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 Swahili, 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 Swahili 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 Swahili from the things most often confused with it.", "questions": [ { "id": "distinguishing-features-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes what distinguishes a Swahili, 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 Swahili, 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 Swahili 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 Swahili 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 Swahili between them.", "questions": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the lifecycle of a Swahili, 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 Swahili, 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 Swahili 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 Swahili, how often and by whom.", "findings": [ { "id": "observation-record", "name": "Observation record", "description": "How an observation of a Swahili 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 Swahili, 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 Swahili, 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 Swahili 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 Swahili 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 Swahili contains and in what form it is held.", "questions": [ { "id": "content-and-format-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the content of a Swahili, 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 Swahili, 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 Swahili 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 Swahili and the period it survives.", "questions": [ { "id": "access-rules-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes access to a Swahili, 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 Swahili, 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 Swahili is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "work-and-manifestation", "name": "Work, version and copy", "description": "Which level of Swahili a statement is about.", "rationale": "The work, the edition, the file and the copy in hand are four things; rights and content attach to different ones.", "layers": [ { "id": "levels", "name": "Levels of the thing", "description": "Work, expression, manifestation and item, in plain terms.", "findings": [ { "id": "level-rules", "name": "What belongs at each level", "description": "Which facts hold for the work and which only for one copy.", "questions": [ { "id": "level-rules-q01", "text": "For Swahili, which facts belong to the work itself, which to a version, and which to a single copy?", "kind": "boundary" }, { "id": "level-rules-q02", "text": "What identifier exists at each level, and which one is being cited?", "kind": "definition" } ] } ] }, { "id": "versions", "name": "Versions, editions and variants", "description": "How versions differ and which is canonical to whom.", "findings": [ { "id": "version-record", "name": "Versions and canonicity", "description": "Differences that matter and who calls one authoritative.", "questions": [ { "id": "version-record-q01", "text": "Which versions or editions of Swahili exist, and how do they differ substantively?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "version-record-q02", "text": "Who treats which version as authoritative, and for what purpose?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "authorship-and-rights", "name": "Authorship, rights and permitted use", "description": "Who made Swahili and what may be done with it.", "rationale": "Rights are jurisdictional, time-limited and attached to a level, and an agent that ignores that will copy what it may not.", "layers": [ { "id": "authorship", "name": "Authorship and contribution", "description": "Who contributed what, and in what capacity.", "findings": [ { "id": "contribution-record", "name": "Contributors and roles", "description": "The people and bodies behind it, with their roles.", "questions": [ { "id": "contribution-record-q01", "text": "Who authored or contributed to Swahili, in what roles, and how is that attested?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "id": "contribution-record-q02", "text": "Where authorship is disputed or anonymous, what is recorded instead?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "rights", "name": "Rights and permissions", "description": "Which rights subsist, where, until when, and what they permit.", "findings": [ { "id": "rights-record", "name": "Rights, term and permitted acts", "description": "The regime in force and what it allows.", "questions": [ { "id": "rights-record-q01", "text": "What rights subsist in Swahili, in which jurisdictions, and until when?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "rights-record-q02", "text": "Which acts are permitted without further permission, and which must an agent refuse?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "provenance-and-evidence", "name": "Provenance, evidence and time", "description": "Where every claim about a Swahili 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 Swahili and how confident it is.", "questions": [ { "id": "claim-provenance-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a claim about a Swahili, 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 Swahili, 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 Swahili 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 Swahili is retired without being erased.", "questions": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the validity of a claim about a Swahili, 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 Swahili, 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 Swahili is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "statistics": { "bundles": 6, "layers": 12, "findings": 14, "questions": 38 } } } }