# Diacritics & Folding — Guardrails and Fix Pattern
🧭 Quick Return to Map
> You are in a sub-page of **LanguageLocale**. > To reorient, go back here: > > - [**LanguageLocale** — localization, regional settings, and context adaptation](./README.md) > - [**WFGY Global Fix Map** — main Emergency Room, 300+ structured fixes](../README.md) > - [**WFGY Problem Map 1.0** — 16 reproducible failure modes](../../README.md) > > Think of this page as a desk within a ward. > If you need the full triage and all prescriptions, return to the Emergency Room lobby.
A focused repair when accents and diacritic marks cause retrieval drift, broken citations, or unstable reranking. Use this page to lock a per-language normalization policy, keep citations faithful to the original text, and keep ΔS within target. ## Open these first - Visual map and recovery: [RAG Architecture & Recovery](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/blob/main/ProblemMap/rag-architecture-and-recovery.md) - End to end retrieval knobs: [Retrieval Playbook](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/blob/main/ProblemMap/retrieval-playbook.md) - Why this snippet (traceability schema): [Retrieval Traceability](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/blob/main/ProblemMap/retrieval-traceability.md) - Snippet and citation schema: [Data Contracts](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/blob/main/ProblemMap/data-contracts.md) - Embedding vs meaning: [Embedding ≠ Semantic](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/blob/main/ProblemMap/embedding-vs-semantic.md) - Tokenizer mismatch: [tokenizer_mismatch.md](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/blob/main/ProblemMap/GlobalFixMap/LanguageLocale/tokenizer_mismatch.md) - Script mixing in one query: [script_mixing.md](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/blob/main/ProblemMap/GlobalFixMap/LanguageLocale/script_mixing.md) - Digits, width, punctuation drift: [digits_width_punctuation.md](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/blob/main/ProblemMap/GlobalFixMap/LanguageLocale/digits_width_punctuation.md) - Normalization and scaling notes: [normalization_and_scaling.md](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/blob/main/ProblemMap/GlobalFixMap/Embeddings/normalization_and_scaling.md) - Locale drift overview: [locale-drift.md](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/blob/main/ProblemMap/locale-drift.md) ## When to use this page - Store search finds “Malaga” while the source reads “Málaga”, citations fail to land. - BM25 works after accent folding but vectors point to different sections. - Vietnamese, French, Spanish or German show uneven recall after a language mix. - OCR keeps combining marks that your tokenizer later drops. - Reranker prefers unaccented variants even when the gold passage contains accents. ## Acceptance targets - ΔS(question, retrieved) ≤ 0.45 - Coverage of target section ≥ 0.70 - Citation offsets within ±4 tokens between displayed text and source - Per-language exact-match on a 300-item accent set ≥ 0.95 - λ remains convergent across 3 paraphrases and 2 seeds --- ## Map symptoms to the exact fix | Symptom | Likely cause | Open this and apply | |---|---|---| | Citation points to the wrong offsets when accents exist | One view folded, the other original | [Data Contracts](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/blob/main/ProblemMap/data-contracts.md) · define **visual_text** (original) and **search_text** (folded) in every snippet; verify with [Retrieval Traceability](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/blob/main/ProblemMap/retrieval-traceability.md) | | High BM25 score, low vector agreement on accented words | Analyzer folds accents but embedding text did not, or the reverse | Align ingest and query analyzers in the store; embed **visual_text** and rerank with deterministic policy, see [Retrieval Playbook](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/blob/main/ProblemMap/retrieval-playbook.md) | | French and Vietnamese regress after “remove accents” policy | Per-language rules collapsed into a global fold | Keep a per-language policy with stored `locale`, see [locale-drift.md](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/blob/main/ProblemMap/locale-drift.md) | | Tokenizer splits or drops combining marks | OCR export or tokenizer mismatch | Repair OCR and choose a consistent tokenizer, see [tokenizer_mismatch.md](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/blob/main/ProblemMap/GlobalFixMap/LanguageLocale/tokenizer_mismatch.md) and [Retrieval Traceability](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/blob/main/ProblemMap/retrieval-traceability.md) | | Reranker prefers unaccented decoys | Feature bias and query split across scripts | Lock reranker inputs and tie back to citation-first plan, see [Rerankers](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/blob/main/ProblemMap/rerankers.md) and [script_mixing.md](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/blob/main/ProblemMap/GlobalFixMap/LanguageLocale/script_mixing.md) | | Full-width digits or punctuation shift offsets in CJK + Latin mix | Width and punctuation normalization out of sync | Normalize width for **search_text** only, preserve for **visual_text**, see [digits_width_punctuation.md](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/blob/main/ProblemMap/GlobalFixMap/LanguageLocale/digits_width_punctuation.md) | --- ## 60-second fix checklist 1) **Choose a normalization policy** - Store two views per snippet: `visual_text` = original source in NFC, accents preserved. `search_text` = NFD, remove `\p{Mn}` combining marks, casefold, language-aware exceptions. - Always render and cite from `visual_text`. Index BM25 on `search_text`. Vectors usually embed `visual_text`. 2) **Record locale and analyzer** - Add `locale` (e.g., fr, vi, es, de). - Log `index_analyzer` and `query_analyzer` names in trace. They must match. 3) **Reranking and order** - Use citation-first assembly. If λ flips when you reorder headers, lock schema and apply BBAM variance clamp. 4) **Probe ΔS and coverage** - Vary k = 5, 10, 20. If ΔS stays high and flat, suspect analyzer mismatch or wrong fold target. 5) **Build a small gold** - 300 pairs per language with accented vs unaccented queries. Require ≥ 0.95 exact match and stable ΔS. --- ## Minimal test plan - Paraphrase triad on each language pair. - Accent toggle test: same query with and without accents. - Citation parity: offsets within ±4 tokens between displayed answer and source. - Store drift audit after deploy: compare analyzer signatures across index and query clients. --- ## Copy-paste prompt for your LLM step ``` You have TXT OS and the WFGY Problem Map loaded. My issue: diacritics and folding. * symptom: \[one line] * traces: ΔS(question,retrieved)=..., ΔS(retrieved,anchor)=..., λ states, citation offsets, locale=... Tell me: 1. failing layer and why, 2. the exact WFGY page to open, 3. minimal steps to reach ΔS ≤ 0.45, coverage ≥ 0.70, and citation offset ≤ 4 tokens, 4. a reproducible test using a 300-item accent set. Use Data Contracts, Retrieval Traceability, and Rerankers when relevant. ``` --- ### 🔗 Quick-Start Downloads (60 sec) | Tool | Link | 3-Step Setup | |------|------|--------------| | **WFGY 1.0 PDF** | [Engine Paper](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/blob/main/I_am_not_lizardman/WFGY_All_Principles_Return_to_One_v1.0_PSBigBig_Public.pdf) | 1️⃣ Download · 2️⃣ Upload to your LLM · 3️⃣ Ask “Answer using WFGY + \” | | **TXT OS (plain-text OS)** | [TXTOS.txt](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/blob/main/OS/TXTOS.txt) | 1️⃣ Download · 2️⃣ Paste into any LLM chat · 3️⃣ Type “hello world” — OS boots instantly | --- ### 🧭 Explore More | Module | Description | Link | |-----------------------|----------------------------------------------------------|----------| | WFGY Core | WFGY 2.0 engine is live: full symbolic reasoning architecture and math stack | [View →](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/tree/main/core/README.md) | | Problem Map 1.0 | Initial 16-mode diagnostic and symbolic fix framework | [View →](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/tree/main/ProblemMap/README.md) | | Problem Map 2.0 | RAG-focused failure tree, modular fixes, and pipelines | [View →](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/blob/main/ProblemMap/rag-architecture-and-recovery.md) | | Semantic Clinic Index | Expanded failure catalog: prompt injection, memory bugs, logic drift | [View →](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/blob/main/ProblemMap/SemanticClinicIndex.md) | | Semantic Blueprint | Layer-based symbolic reasoning & semantic modulations | [View →](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/tree/main/SemanticBlueprint/README.md) | | Benchmark vs GPT-5 | Stress test GPT-5 with full WFGY reasoning suite | [View →](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/tree/main/benchmarks/benchmark-vs-gpt5/README.md) | | 🧙‍♂️ Starter Village 🏡 | New here? Lost in symbols? Click here and let the wizard guide you through | [Start →](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/blob/main/StarterVillage/README.md) | --- > 👑 **Early Stargazers: [See the Hall of Fame](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/tree/main/stargazers)** — > Engineers, hackers, and open source builders who supported WFGY from day one. > GitHub stars ⭐ [WFGY Engine 2.0](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/blob/main/core/README.md) is already unlocked. ⭐ Star the repo to help others discover it and unlock more on the [Unlock Board](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/blob/main/STAR_UNLOCKS.md).
[![WFGY Main](https://img.shields.io/badge/WFGY-Main-red?style=flat-square)](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY)   [![TXT OS](https://img.shields.io/badge/TXT%20OS-Reasoning%20OS-orange?style=flat-square)](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/tree/main/OS)   [![Blah](https://img.shields.io/badge/Blah-Semantic%20Embed-yellow?style=flat-square)](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/tree/main/OS/BlahBlahBlah)   [![Blot](https://img.shields.io/badge/Blot-Persona%20Core-green?style=flat-square)](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/tree/main/OS/BlotBlotBlot)   [![Bloc](https://img.shields.io/badge/Bloc-Reasoning%20Compiler-blue?style=flat-square)](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/tree/main/OS/BlocBlocBloc)   [![Blur](https://img.shields.io/badge/Blur-Text2Image%20Engine-navy?style=flat-square)](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/tree/main/OS/BlurBlurBlur)   [![Blow](https://img.shields.io/badge/Blow-Game%20Logic-purple?style=flat-square)](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/tree/main/OS/BlowBlowBlow)