# Semantic-First Constrained Generation **Domain:** Language Generation / Computational Creativity / Artificial Intelligence **Doc Type:** Canonical Project-Derived Concept Node **Maturity:** Developed **Related:** [[wiki/Symbolic Language Engine|Symbolic Language Engine]], [[wiki/Formal Grammar|Formal Grammar]], [[wiki/Constraint Satisfaction|Constraint Satisfaction]], [[wiki/Candidate Generation and Ranking|Candidate Generation and Ranking]], [[wiki/Distributional Semantics|Distributional Semantics]] --- ## Definition **Semantic-First Constrained Generation is a generation architecture in which conceptual direction is established before syntax, rhyme, meter and surface form are selected.** Meaning drives the search; formal requirements constrain its realization. ## Architecture The author supplies primary concepts. Associative machinery expands them into weighted neighborhoods and traverses paths that remain related to both the original subject and recent context. Grammar produces candidate constructions. Phonology, phrase alignment, syllable count and verse-form structure constrain admissible realizations. Surface checking then repairs spelling and grammar after the constraint layers have interacted. This ordering distinguishes the project from procedural systems that choose a rhyme first and generate syntactically plausible filler to reach it. A large multiword phrase bank increases the number of ways a concept can satisfy a sound constraint without surrendering its meaning. ## Contemporary Bridge Neural models can broaden realization while symbolic layers preserve explicit requirements. The architecture therefore anticipates a [[wiki/Neuro-Symbolic AI|neuro-symbolic]] creative system in which generation remains inspectable and author-directed. ## Key Insight **The thought is the objective; form is a negotiated constraint on its expression.** ## See Also [[wiki/Constraint Satisfaction|Constraint Satisfaction]], [[wiki/Candidate Generation and Ranking|Candidate Generation and Ranking]], [[wiki/Distributional Semantics|Distributional Semantics]], [[wiki/Approximate Phonological Matching|Approximate Phonological Matching]], [[wiki/Formal Grammar|Formal Grammar]], [[wiki/VersePerfect|VersePerfect]] ## Sources / Provenance - Project architecture reconstructed in [[projects/Ten Years Building a Symbolic Language Engine|Ten Years Building a Symbolic Language Engine]].