Experimental Protocol: Trajectory-Symbol Alignment Hypothesis

Experimental Protocol: Trajectory-Symbol Alignment Hypothesis

Version: 1.0.0
Status: Locked
Last Updated: 2025-01-01

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1. Hypothesis Statement

Central Hypothesis:

> There exists a finite operator alphabet and legality grammar such that semantic meaning, defined as invariant latent effect across stratified contexts, can be constructed, promoted, deprecated, and recomposed without reference to pre-existing natural language tokens, and such that this meaning remains stable under controlled perturbation.

Operational Definitions:

• Semantic meaning: A stable pattern in latent space characterized by invariant ΔZ (trajectory difference) across diverse contexts
• Invariant: Directional concentration ≥ threshold, curvature consistency ≥ threshold, and context entropy ≥ threshold
• Constructed: Created through operator composition from the 7-operator alphabet
• Stable under perturbation: Semantic velocity ≤ stage-appropriate threshold under stress profiles

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2. Independent Variables

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3. Dependent Variables

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4. Control Conditions

4.1 Baseline Control

• Stress Profile: `baseline_v1`
• Expected Behavior: High promotion rate (≥80
• Purpose: Establish nominal system behavior

4.2 Natural Language Control

• Source: Dictionary-verified N'Ko vocabulary
• Expected Behavior: Should exhibit stability patterns consistent with constructed forms
• Purpose: Validate that constructed semantics align with natural language patterns

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5. Experimental Procedure

5.1 Corpus Preparation

1. Extract N'Ko vocabulary from video OCR pipeline
2. Compile each unique detection using MorphologicalCompiler
3. Initialize ledger with compiled forms at Proto stage
4. Record initial TraceStats from video contexts

5.2 Rehearsal Protocol

For each stress profile:

1. Initialize RehearsalExecutor with profile and seed
2. For each form in target vocabulary:
a. Reset generator with deterministic seed
b. Run replay_count iterations
c. Record invariance trajectory at configured frequency
d. Compute final DriftMetrics
e. Determine stage transition or regression
3. Aggregate BatchRehearsalResults

5.3 Measurement Points

• Pre-rehearsal: Record initial stage and accumulated stats
• During rehearsal: Invariance check every N observations
• Post-rehearsal: Final stage, drift metrics, trajectory summary

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6. Statistical Analysis

6.1 Primary Analyses

• Promotion Rate by Stress Profile: Chi-square or Fisher's exact test
• Semantic Velocity by Stage: One-way ANOVA with post-hoc comparisons
• Drift Rate Correlation: Pearson/Spearman with stage and profile factors

6.2 Secondary Analyses

• Operator Consistency Score: Mean dominance confidence across segment types
• Tokenization Stability: Distribution of StabilityGrades in vocabulary
• Context Independence: Correlation with invariance stability

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7. Success Criteria

The hypothesis is supported if:

1. Proto → Provisional promotion occurs for ≥50
2. Canonical forms exhibit semantic velocity ≤ 0.05 under all profiles except DriftInduction
3. OperatorSaturation profile produces measurably higher curvature variance than baseline
4. ContextCollapse profile produces ContextCollapse failure mode in ≥70
5. Reproducibility: Same seed produces identical results across runs

The hypothesis is refuted if:

1. Promotion rates are not statistically different from random
2. Semantic velocity shows no relationship with lifecycle stage
3. Operator sequences have no predictive power for invariance patterns
4. Stress profiles produce indistinguishable results

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8. Reproducibility Guarantees

8.1 Deterministic Requirements

• All random number generation via seeded PRNG
• Event log provides deterministic replay
• Ledger state derived solely from event log
• No external dependencies beyond version-locked libraries

8.2 Version Locking

• Schema version: `1.0.0`
• Probe config version: `1.0.0`
• Realization ruleset version: `1.0.0`
• All thresholds frozen at documented values

8.3 Artifact Preservation

• Raw event logs stored with experiment ID
• Batch results exported as JSONL with schema version
• All configuration parameters logged with run metadata

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9. Ethical Considerations

9.1 Data Sources

• Video content: Educational materials, publicly available
• Dictionary data: Open resources, properly attributed
• Synthetic generation: Model-generated, no personal data

9.2 Language Preservation

• This work contributes to N'Ko language technology
• All vocabulary artifacts available for community benefit
• No proprietary claims on natural language structures

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10. Reporting Requirements

10.1 Required Outputs

1. Raw Data: BatchRehearsalResults for each profile × stage combination
2. Summary Statistics: Mean, SD, CI for all dependent variables
3. Visualizations: Invariance trajectories, drift distributions, operator correlations
4. Reproducibility Artifacts: Seeds, configurations, version tags

10.2 Negative Results

Negative results (failure to support hypothesis) must be reported with:
- Specific failure modes observed
- Potential confounds identified
- Suggestions for hypothesis refinement

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11. Protocol Amendments

This protocol is locked as of version 1.0.0.

Amendments require:
1. New version number
2. Explicit documentation of changes
3. Rationale for amendment
4. Re-evaluation of affected results

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Appendix A: Stress Profile Specifications

See `stress/profile.rs` for full implementation.

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Appendix B: Threshold Values

Invariance Thresholds by Stage

Drift Thresholds by Stage

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This protocol governs all experimental work under Phase 8. Deviations must be documented and justified.