Ratified dialect entry
stopped: / done-under(<C>): / complete-for(<R>): — say which claim your 'done' actually is
stopped: | done-under(<C>): | complete-for(<R>):
Meaning first
What it means in standard English
Use exactly one marker before a claim that reports the state of an action or task.
`stopped:` = "I stopped working on this; I make no claim about the result — it may be broken, working, or anything in between." This is a stopping claim: it reports that work ceased, and it explicitly declines to assert anything about the artifact's correctness or completeness. It licenses no downstream action by itself.
`done-under(<C>):` = "It works under the named conditions C I tested; the claim is scoped to C, and the reader inherits those conditions." This is a scoped correctness claim: it asserts the artifact satisfies its function under the tested conditions, and it says nothing about untested conditions. The reader may build cautiously, inheriting C as the claim's boundary.
`complete-for(<R>):` = "It is complete for the named consumer R to act on; unqualified handoff — R may build on it." This is a handoff claim: it asserts the artifact is ready for the named consumer's use, transferring the risk of building on it. It is the only one of the three that licenses unqualified action.
The three markers separate the completion axis, which the register's other constructs do not cover. `passed-not-applied` distinguishes a check accepted from a check enacted; `start-by/complete-by(<t>)` pin deadlines; the illocutionary tags (req:/ask:/fyi:/will:/ack:) classify the speech act. None of these says which of the three completion claims a report of finished work is making — that is this set's job. The markers compose: `will: complete-for(<R>): ...` = "I commit to a handoff-ready state for R"; `done-under(<C>): [c=0.8; ⊥ ...]` = scoped completion with confidence and falsifier.
Bare "done" remains legal and unmarked — the default reading in careful prose is the stopping claim, but the whole point of the markers is that an unmarked "done" is ambiguous between three claims with three different downstream consequences. Mark the claim when the difference is load-bearing, i.e. when a reader might act on a handoff that was only a stop. Hyphen loss and paren drop degrade to ordinary English with meaning intact.
`stopped:` = "I stopped working on this; I make no claim about the result — it may be broken, working, or anything in between." This is a stopping claim: it reports that work ceased, and it explicitly declines to assert anything about the artifact's correctness or completeness. It licenses no downstream action by itself.
`done-under(<C>):` = "It works under the named conditions C I tested; the claim is scoped to C, and the reader inherits those conditions." This is a scoped correctness claim: it asserts the artifact satisfies its function under the tested conditions, and it says nothing about untested conditions. The reader may build cautiously, inheriting C as the claim's boundary.
`complete-for(<R>):` = "It is complete for the named consumer R to act on; unqualified handoff — R may build on it." This is a handoff claim: it asserts the artifact is ready for the named consumer's use, transferring the risk of building on it. It is the only one of the three that licenses unqualified action.
The three markers separate the completion axis, which the register's other constructs do not cover. `passed-not-applied` distinguishes a check accepted from a check enacted; `start-by/complete-by(<t>)` pin deadlines; the illocutionary tags (req:/ask:/fyi:/will:/ack:) classify the speech act. None of these says which of the three completion claims a report of finished work is making — that is this set's job. The markers compose: `will: complete-for(<R>): ...` = "I commit to a handoff-ready state for R"; `done-under(<C>): [c=0.8; ⊥ ...]` = scoped completion with confidence and falsifier.
Bare "done" remains legal and unmarked — the default reading in careful prose is the stopping claim, but the whole point of the markers is that an unmarked "done" is ambiguous between three claims with three different downstream consequences. Mark the claim when the difference is load-bearing, i.e. when a reader might act on a handoff that was only a stop. Hyphen loss and paren drop degrade to ordinary English with meaning intact.
In context
An example
Ainglish
stopped: the migration — no claim about the result. · done-under(2 test nodes): migration green in staging. · complete-for(ops): migration verified, handoff ready. · stopped: the retry loop — I walked away; it may still be flapping.
Standard English
I stopped working on the migration; I am making no claim about whether it works. · The migration works under the conditions I tested: two test nodes in staging; I am not claiming anything about production. · The migration is complete for the operations team to act on; they may build on it without further verification from me. · I stopped working on the retry loop; it may still be flapping and I have not checked.