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ADR-v2-057 — Spoken Temporal Normalizer

Status: Accepted (2026-07-02) · Wave H Context links: [[adr-v2-045-entity-itn]] (formats numbers, doesn't resolve dates), [[adr-011]]

Context

Wave H research (#3) — resolve spoken relative/absolute time expressions against the clock and inject a concrete date: "next Friday" → "Fri Jul 10 2026", "tomorrow"/"yesterday"/"in two weeks" → concrete dates. Invaluable for email/calendar dictation. Anchors: SCATE end-to-end time normalization (arXiv 2507.06450), SUTIME/HeidelTime, Python dateparser.

Distinct from Entity ITN, which formats number words ("twenty twenty" → "2020") but does not resolve "next Friday" to a calendar date relative to now.

Decision

Add an opt-in Spoken Temporal Normalizer: [temporal] enabled=false. The pure core resolve_temporal(text, now) replaces recognized relative-date expressions (today/tomorrow/yesterday, this/next , "in N days/weeks") with a concrete formatted date, using only stdlib datetime — now is injected so the function stays pure and deterministically testable. Wired on the DICTATE path (the daemon passes the current time). The neural SCATE model + dateparser for messy phrasing are deferred behind a temporal extra. OFF by default.

Consequences

  • Ships with no new dependency — stdlib datetime arithmetic.
  • Distinct from ITN (resolve vs format).
  • Privacy (ADR-011): uses only the local system clock; fully offline.
  • Caveat: built-in grammar covers common phrasings → messy natural language deferred to the neural tier; off by default so ordinary prose is never rewritten.