Glossary 

A

Apex Meaning State 

The highest‑order semantic configuration present at the moment a DSLO Moment is formed. All continuity and posture rules anchor to this state.

Audit Trail 

A deterministic record of semantic transitions across the DSLO substrate, including Moment construction, invariant evaluation and graph traversal.

C

Coherence Band 

The expected interpretive bandwidth for a DSLO Moment. It describes how tightly or loosely downstream systems may interpret stabilized meaning while remaining aligned with the originating intent. The Coherence Band expresses semantic tolerance, not system‑level control. 

Constraints 

Explicit boundaries, exclusions or limits encoded within a DSLO Moment. Constraints restrict semantic interpretation and downstream behavior.

Continuity 

The preservation of meaning across time, context and system boundaries. Continuity ensures that semantic evolution is lawful, predictable and drift‑free.

D

Deterministic Semantic Layer 

The DSLO layer that applies invariants, posture rules, safety envelopes and continuity logic to stabilize meaning before orchestration.

Deterministic Transition 

A guaranteed, reproducible movement from one DSLO Moment to another under identical conditions. Determinism is required for semantic stability.

Drift 

Deviation in meaning, posture or continuity caused by ecological forces such as context loss, medium constraints, institutional filters, memory decay or system variance. Drift predates AI and is a universal property of signal ecologies.

E

Edge Context 

Peripheral contextual information that may influence meaning but is not part of the core DSLO Moment. Edge context is considered but never allowed to override invariants.

Envelope (Safety Envelope) 

The semantic safety boundary that defines the maximum allowable deviation from the originating meaning.

Ecology 

The environment in which signals interact, evolve, stabilize or degrade. Ecologies include oral, written, printed, broadcast, digital and AI substrates.

F

Fallback Graph 

A constrained semantic graph used when continuity cannot be guaranteed. It ensures safe, predictable transitions without drift or posture distortion.

G

Graph Boundary 

A defined point where semantic behavior may change between the Moment Graph and the Fallback Graph. Each boundary has strict input/output requirements.

Governance Mesh 

The distributed structure that will eventually manage DSLO standards, validators, semantic test suites and jurisdiction‑aware overlays.

I

Identity Preservation 

The requirement that expressive posture (tone, personality, emotional geometry) remains stable across all transitions.

Invariants (Semantic Invariants) 

Deterministic rules that ensure meaning, posture and continuity remain stable across the substrates.

Intent 

The underlying purpose encoded within a DSLO Moment. Intent is the anchor of semantic interpretation.

L

Layered Substrate 

The three‑layer DSLO architecture (Origin Layer, Deterministic Semantic Layer, Orchestration Layer) that evaluates and stabilizes meaning.

M

Meaning State 

The internal semantic configuration representing intent, posture, constraints and continuity. Meaning state is stabilized through DSLO invariants.

Medium Drift 

Drift caused by the constraints or distortions inherent to a substrate (e.g., oral transmission, print compression, digital context collapse).

Moment (DSLO Moment) 

The atomic semantic unit of DSLO, containing intent, target, constraints, posture, internal state, safety envelope, coherence band and routing metadata.

Moment Graph 

The primary semantic graph governing lawful, deterministic transitions between DSLO Moments.

O

Origin Layer 

The DSLO layer that captures raw meaning and normalizes it into a DSLO Moment without interpretation.

Origin Signal 

The raw, pre‑substrate meaning before normalization into a DSLO Moment.

P

Posture 

The expressive geometry of a signal, including tone, identity and emotional stance. Posture must remain invariant across transitions.

Protocol Substrate 

The minimal implementation required to run DSLO, including Moment construction, invariant evaluation and graph traversal.

R

Routing Metadata

Information within a DSLO Moment that determines where stabilized meaning may be delivered downstream.

S

Safety Envelope 

The semantic boundary within which a DSLO Moment remains stable and interpretable. It defines the allowable range of variation around the originating meaning without implying any enforcement mechanism. The Safety Envelope is descriptive, not operational: it characterizes the region where meaning remains coherent across contexts. 

Semantic Flow

The deterministic movement of meaning through the DSLO layers and semantic graphs.

Semantic Layer 

The DSLO layer responsible for applying invariants, posture rules and continuity logic.

Signal 

A structured unit of meaning with intent, posture, constraints and ecological behavior. Signals exist across all substrates, not only AI.

Signal Species 

Categories of signals defined by volatility, structure, posture and ecological behavior.

State Integrity 

The property that a DSLO Moment’s meaning‑relevant structure remains consistent as it moves across systems or contexts. State Integrity ensures that the semantic configuration of a Moment is preserved conceptually, without implying any internal state‑management or enforcement mechanism. 

Sovereign Meaning 

A user‑owned semantic state that persists across all systems and substrates without drift or reinterpretation.

Substrate‑Agnostic 

The property of DSLO that ensures identical semantic behavior across all models, systems, operating environments and hardware architectures. DSLO does not depend on any specific computational substrate.

T

Target 

The object, domain or referent to which a DSLO Moment applies.

Temporal Continuity  

The requirement that meaning remains stable across time, with past interactions informing present interpretation.

V

Validator 

Any system, organization or human responsible for verifying DSLO compliance, semantic invariants and deterministic transitions.

Version Boundary 

A defined point where DSLO behavior may change between versions while preserving backward compatibility.