C.2.3:4 - Solution - U.Formality as one ordinal characteristic

C.2.3 defines U.Formality as the single governing characteristic for rigor of expression in FPF.

C.2.3:4.1 - Identity and typing

• Name: U.Formality (abbreviated F)
• Type: U.Characteristic
• Scale kind: ordinal
• Polarity: up
• Carrier: any U.Episteme
• Default value family: F0...F9

F states how strictly the content is expressed. It does not state whether the content is true, well evidenced, widely applicable, or organizationally accepted.

C.2.3:4.2 - Place in the typed F-G-R tuple

A named assurance argument may consume F alongside G or R under B.3. Declaring F for a normative episteme does not itself select an assurance argument or require the current use to consume a universal tuple. The characteristics remain distinct:

• F is not G; scope remains governed by U.ClaimScope and other USM structures.
• F is not R; evidence, warrant strength, and decay remain assurance concerns.
• Mapping loss is assessed for the actual receiving use. Any effect on R needs its B.3/C.2.2 basis; an ordinal CL value supplies no automatic penalty and does not change F.
• Changes in notation, carrier, or rendering form do not change F if the formal content is preserved.

C.2.3:4.3 - Extensibility and local anchors

FPF provides the default anchor ladder F0...F9. A context may define sub-anchors or intermediate anchors such as F4[OCL] or F6.5, but only if:

• global order is preserved,
• the local anchor is explicitly docked to a parent anchor,
• the context does not invent a rival ladder or proxy scale.

C.2.3:4.4 - Usage obligations

• Every normative episteme shall declare one F value.
• Thresholds that depend on rigor should be written explicitly as F >= Fk conditions.
• Any actual raise or lowering of expression rigor is a content change, not a status-only change. Correcting an erroneous F attribution changes the assessment, not necessarily the assessed episteme.
• F remains declaration and reasoning infrastructure; it is not itself a governance process.