FPF Reference

A.2.9:4 — Solution

Preface node heading:a-2-9-4-solution:5113

Content

U.SpeechAct is a kernel Work object: a recorded communicative enactment performed by an accountable role‑enactor within a bounded context, optionally addressed to others, that is recognized (in that context) as updating an information and/or governance state. The act is not the utterance text; it points to utterance descriptions and evidence carriers.

A.2.9:4.1 — Normative definition

A U.SpeechAct is a U.Work occurrence whose primary (intended) effect is communicative: it places an utterance into a context in a way that is recognized by that context’s institutional semantics (policies, procedures, protocol rules) as potentially:

  • asserting/informing,
  • requesting/directing,
  • promising/committing (as an instituting act),
  • declaring/authorizing/revoking (status-changing acts),
  • notifying (event announcement relevant for downstream work).

Per A.7, U.SpeechAct is an object/event; its utterance descriptions are descriptions (epistemes/spec clauses/messages‑as‑content), and its carriers are artifacts/traces that support observation and audit. (Note: “Surface” is reserved for MVPK publication/interoperability surfaces; do not use it here.)

Whether a given actType institutes commitments/permissions/status changes is entirely context‑policy dependent. Absent an explicit policy, treat a U.SpeechAct as a communicative Work occurrence with observable provenance only; do not infer deontic bindings from the act by default.

A.2.9:4.2 — Minimal structure (normative)

A conforming U.SpeechAct SHALL be representable by the following minimal record (field names are illustrative; the constraints are normative):

U.SpeechAct <: U.Work

Invariant: U.Work.kind = Communicative

U.SpeechAct ::=
  U.Work
  & {
      actTypes: set<SpeechActTypeRef>,               // ≥1 act types (supports multi-function)
      addressedTo: optional<set<AddresseeRef>>,      // optional: who is addressed / audience
      utteranceRefs: optional<set<DescriptionRef>>,  // where the utterance content is stated/recorded (A.7: Description)
      carrierRefs: optional<set<CarrierRef>>,        // evidence carriers/traces (A.7: Carrier; use A.10 when evidentiary)
      institutes: optional<InstitutedEffects>,       // references to objects/claims instituted/updated by this act
      notes: optional<InformativeText>               // explicitly informative
    }

DescriptionRef ::=
  ClaimIdRef | EpistemeRef
  // Pointer to an utterance description (e.g., spec clause claim ID, a policy episteme, a message-content episteme).

SpeechActTypeRef ::=
  ContextLocalTokenRef
  // Must be defined/recognized in the Work’s judgement context (bounded context).

AddresseeRef ::=
  PartyRef | RoleRef | RoleAssignmentRef

InstitutedEffects ::=
  {
    commitments: optional<set<CommitmentIdRef>>,
    roleAssignments: optional<set<RoleAssignmentRef>>,
    statusClaims: optional<set<ClaimIdRef>>,         // e.g., “StandardStatus=Approved” if modeled as claims
    other: optional<set<ObjectIdRef>>
  }

Normative constraints:

  • (SA‑C0) Work conformance applies. Because U.SpeechAct <: U.Work, a speech‑act record MUST satisfy U.Work conformance (A.15.1), including the required anchors (isExecutionOf, performedBy, executedWithin, window, and state‑plane / judgement‑context anchoring). A speech act MUST have at least one affected referent (the thing it is about/updates), even if it is purely governance‑state.
  • (SA‑C1) PerformedBy must be an accountable actor. performedBy MUST resolve to a RoleAssignmentRef whose holder is an accountable system/party in the named scope. It MUST NOT be a spec/interface/document as an episteme.
  • (SA‑C2) ActTypes are required and context-local. actTypes MUST contain at least one SpeechActTypeRef recognized in the Work’s judgement context (local meaning). Free‑text verbs are nonconformant unless registered as a context token.
  • (SA‑C3) Time honesty. window MUST be explicit (or inherited from the parent U.Work record) so freshness rules can be evaluated.
  • (SA‑C4) If used for gating/audit, it must be observable. If a speech act is used as a checklist criterion, guard condition, or provenance hook for a U.Commitment, the model SHALL include at least one observable handle: utteranceRefs and/or carrierRefs. When the act is used as evidence, at least one carrier reference SHOULD be SCR/RSCR‑resolvable per A.10.
  • (SA‑C5) Institutional effects are references, not paraphrases. When the act is intended to institute/update commitments, role assignments, or statuses, institutes.* SHOULD reference the corresponding object IDs/claim IDs rather than restating content.
  • (SA‑C6) Cross-context use is Bridge-only. If a SpeechActRef is used for checking/gating/provenance in a different bounded context than the act’s judgement context, the referencing object MUST satisfy the spec’s cross-context discipline by citing an explicit Bridge/policy that licenses the interpretation (and surfacing congruence vs loss where applicable), rather than assuming equivalence by label.

A.2.9:4.3 — SpeechActRef discipline (normative)

A SpeechActRef is a reference to U.SpeechAct.id.

  • If another object (e.g., U.Commitment.source.speechActRef) cites a SpeechActRef, the referenced U.SpeechAct MUST satisfy SA‑C0…SA‑C4 (and SA‑C6 when used cross‑context).
  • A SpeechActRef MUST NOT be replaced by an EpistemeRef (“see the document”) when provenance is needed; the episteme is an utterance description, not the act.
  • If a system cannot record a full U.SpeechAct, it may record a stub that still satisfies SA‑C0…SA‑C4 (minimal actTypes, performer, judgement context, window, affected, plus at least one observable handle). When a required U.Work anchor is unknown, the stub MUST use an explicit placeholder (e.g., an “AdHocCommunication” MethodDescription) rather than omitting the field.

A.2.9:4.4 — Separation rules with U.Commitment and U.PromiseContent (normative)

  1. Speech act is not the deontic binding. A speech act may institute a U.Commitment, but the deontic relation itself is the U.Commitment object (A.2.8). Do not encode obligations/permissions inside U.SpeechAct as prose; instead, create/point to U.Commitment IDs in institutes.commitments.

  2. Speech act is not the service promise clause. U.PromiseContent / promise contents are promise content; a speech act may be the act of offering/issuing that promise, but the promise content lives in the service/promise content objects and is referenced from the resulting commitments.

  3. Speech act is not the carrier. A “signed approval PDF”, “ticket record”, “Slack message”, or “API call log” is a carrier (and may carry an episteme as utterance content); the speech act is the Work occurrence that produced/issued it.

  4. Publishing a spec is not a commitment by default. Default interpretation rule (normative). A conformant model/interpreter MUST NOT infer U.Commitment objects solely from Publish/Approve speech acts. Publication MAY institute publication/status claims (e.g., “Published”, “Approved”, “Deprecated”), but any obligations/permissions on implementers/operators/providers MUST be modeled explicitly as U.Commitment objects (A.2.8). If a Context defines a policy that maps publication acts to commitment-instituting effects (e.g., a named SpecPublicationPolicy@Context), that policy MUST be named and cited where the implication is used.

A.2.9:4.5 — Multi-function and multi-party support (normative)

  • Multi-function: actTypes is a set. If one utterance performs multiple recognizable acts (e.g., “approve + instruct + warn”), the model may either:

    • represent one U.SpeechAct with multiple actTypes entries, or
    • represent multiple U.SpeechAct records that share the same carrierRefs/utteranceRefs. In either case, institutional effects must remain referenceable (SA‑C5).

  • Multi-party: addressedTo is a set and may include roles/parties/assignments. If addressees matter for validity (e.g., “approval by CAB chair to deployment bot”), they should be explicit.