Chapter 62: Meaning Drift and Repair

Meanings are not fixed. They shift, narrow, broaden, elevate, and degrade over time. This chapter formalizes semantic drift as perturbation of the natural transformation between syntax and subsymbolic pattern: the readout functor is not rigid, and small perturbations accumulate into significant shifts. Repair mechanisms—dictionaries, institutions, normative practices—are modeled as gluing-condition enforcement that stabilizes the readout functor against perturbation. Some drift is irreversible: language evolves because the readout functor is a living map, not a frozen one.