Deferred Semantic Binding: A Framework for Context-Dependent Semantics

Deferred semantic binding is a framework for context-dependent semantics. Symbols are declared with an interpretation method but without a fixed effect and are bound only upon activation, when sufficient runtime context is available: who acts, when, where, and the current state of the system. Evaluation has two poles: a symbol binds when a specified evaluator finds that its conditions are satisfied and remains latent when it does not. Both outcomes are recorded along with their grounds, allowing a system to answer not only what happened but also what waited, and why. The paper sets out the symbols and their activation contexts, the two binding statuses and their ledger, guards as checkable felicity conditions, operators as performatives, composition rules, and three examples: a weighted vote, a contribution whose role in a decision is established later, and a proposal that binds in the absence of a veto within a specified window. It distinguishes the framework from deferred computation in programming languages and from indexical semantics, and positions it in relation to speech-act theory, commitment semantics, and agent communication languages. It is offered as a conceptual framework; the empirical tests it calls for are specified but not performed. Version 2.0 (September 2026) supersedes version 1.5. This version sets the multi-agent voting simulation of earlier versions aside and presents the framework on its own; the simulation material remains in version 1.5 of this record. Overview and links: https://dsbl.dev/dsbl-framework.html.