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Participation and AgencySource requiredDocumentedControversy: low

Switch-Reference

Is the subject of this action the same as the subject of the previous one?

A grammatical system that marks whether the subject of one clause is the same as, or different from, the subject of a neighbouring clause.

Graft transformationField record → structural reading → speculative construct → running machine
  1. T1 · Documented

    Field record pending — no linked language specimens yet.

    What linguistic research records.

  2. T2 · Interpreted

    chained operations often lose track of which agent is currently acting

    How Lanskrit reads the code deficit.

  3. T3 · Proposed

    same-subject and different-subject operators

    Speculative constructs — not executable code.

  4. T4 · Executed

    Not yet compiled to a deterministic runtime.

    Deterministic runtime — the graft as running machinery.

§ EvidenceFour tiers of verifiability

Each tier is a different kind of claim. We keep them visually distinct so a reader can never confuse a field record with a deterministic run.

T1Documented

Documented

What linguistic research records.

  • continuity of the acting participant across clauses
  • explicit change of subject
T2Interpreted

Interpreted

How Lanskrit reads the code deficit.

  • chained operations often lose track of which agent is currently acting
T3Proposed

Proposed

Speculative constructs — not executable code.

  • same-subject and different-subject operators
T4Executed

Executed

Deterministic runtime — the graft as running machinery.

No executable runtime yet. This capability has not been compiled to a deterministic machine.

Computational opportunities
  • explicit subject-continuity markers in workflows
  • clearer multi-agent traces
Warnings against overgeneralisation
  • Switch-reference is not present in every language and takes different forms where it occurs.
Documented in languages

No specific languages have been linked to this capability yet.

Cited as examples of the feature, not as claims about all speakers of these languages.

Research status

Source required

Research source pending verification.

Research entry incomplete.

Version
Record version
0.1
Last reviewed
2026-07-21
Controversy level
low