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+# IS-1 v2 — the ISC language specification (normative semantics)
+
+Status: **DRAFT v2** (2026-10-27) — accumulates the A4 rulings
+(ruby PRs #818, #820, #821, #822, #823, #828; 22 frozen vectors in
+`interscript-ruby spec/isc/semantics_spec.rb`). Each section below is
+normative; the vector suite is its executable form.
+
+## 1. The language
+
+ISC (Interscript Specification Code) is a declarative language for
+script conversion. A `.isc` file denotes exactly one conversion
+function from an input script to an output target. One document, one
+function: every runtime computes the same mathematical object.
+
+## 2. Document structure
+
+```
+system "<AUTHORITY>:<lang>-<SrcScript>:<DstScript>[-<variant>]:<year>" {
+  metadata { authority_id <id>  id <n>  language iso-639-3:<code>
+             source_script <Scr>  destination_script <Scr>  [name "..."] }
+  [aliases { <name> = <item> ... }]
+  [dependency { ... }]
+  stage <name> { <rule-items> }
+  [tests { "<input>" -> "<expected>" ... }]
+}
+```
+
+- **Metadata** fields are newline- or semicolon-separated inside the
+  braces; `authority_id`, `id`, `language`, `source_script`,
+  `destination_script` are required.
+- **Embedded tests** (`tests { input -> expected }`) are normative
+  data on the document. Ruling (batch 4): they are **never executed by
+  `transliterate`** — the verification layer (conformance runner,
+  artifact build) executes them.
+
+## 3. Stage composition (batch 1, #818)
+
+- A **sequence** block executes its rules in order; each rule consumes
+  and produces the string.
+- A **parallel** block is **single-pass longest-match**: one scan over
+  the input, the longest applicable rule wins at each position.
+- **Ruling**: duplicate rules in a parallel resolve
+  **last-declared-wins** (deterministic; vector `tst-tie-1`).
+
+## 4. Contexts (batch 2, #820)
+
+- `before X` / `after Y` are **zero-width lookbehind/lookahead**: they
+  constrain the match without consuming (vectors `tst-before-2`,
+  `tst-after-2`).
+- `not_before` / `not_after` are their negations.
+
+## 5. Item algebra (batches 4–5, #822, #828)
+
+- `any("abc")` — a character **set** of length 1.
+- `any("0".."9")` — an **inclusive codepoint range**.
+- `any_character` — any single character.
+- `maybe(x)` — zero-or-one; **participates in longest-match**.
+- `capture(x)` + `ref(N)` — the captured source text is substituted in
+  the target (`ref` only in target position).
+- **Concatenation** is `+` (whitespace-separated atoms in the DSL
+  sugar).
+- **No alternation operator exists.** Alternatives are separate rules.
+- **Aliases** (`aliases { name = item }`) bind named item expressions
+  at parse time and are usable in **both from and to** positions
+  (batch 5).
+
+## 6. Boundary (batch 4)
+
+`boundary` is a **zero-width word edge** (regex `\b`-equivalent):
+string edges match; mid-word never (vector `tst-item-4`).
+`line_start` / `line_end` / `word_boundary` are the same class.
+
+## 7. Run dispatch (batches 3, #821)
+
+- `run stage.<name>` — execute a stage of this document.
+- `run map.<dep>.stage.<name>` — execute a stage of a declared
+  dependency (dependency-aliased dispatch).
+- **Ruling (strict parse, #828)**: `run` accepts **no other form**.
+  Stray identifiers anywhere in a stage body are a **parse error** — a
+  typo'd map fails loudly (the batch-4 silent-no-op hazard is closed;
+  the corpus gate passed 295/295 strict-clean, maps#207).
+
+## 8. String-case and stdlib directives
+
+- **Stage-level directives** (`downcase`, `upcase`, `title_case`,
+  `compose`, `decompose`, `separate`, `unseparate`) execute at their
+  rule position on the whole string (batch 4: downcase-then-sub
+  ordering pinned).
+- `rababa <kwargs>` is a **declared funcall directive**: kwargs are
+  mandatory and passed through to the ML adapter.
+- **Ruling (batch 5, #823)**: ML funcalls without a provisioned model
+  raise a **named provisioning error**
+  (`Interscript::ML::IMF::RegistryError` enumerating known ids) —
+  never an accidental crash.
+- **Ruling (strict parse)**: `run` takes no stdlib names — stdlib
+  string functions are the bare stage directives; `run downcase` is a
+  parse error (the accidental form, unpinned).
+
+## 9. Charset and casing directives
+
+`sub <from> to upcase` / `to downcase` uppercase/lowercase **the
+matched text** (not the whole string).
+
+## 10. Cross-runtime guarantee
+
+Every section above has a frozen vector in
+`interscript-ruby spec/isc/semantics_spec.rb`. The TypeScript and
+Python engines compute the same functions (the C1 conformance matrix
+byte-executes the corpus across runtimes). A divergence is a bug in
+the runtime, not in this document.
+
+## 11. Open items (tracked)
+
+- The TypeScript/Python parsers' strict-parse adoption (the ruby
+  grammar leads; the corpus gate holds all interim).
+- The ML-adapter provisioning contract's deeper surface
+  (rababa_reverse semantics).
+- IS-1 v2 as a citable release (D2) — this text is its nucleus.