# Codebook — The Renaming of the State

Draft, gate 1. These rules code the *names*; the event taxonomy in
`lineages.json` codes the *changes*. Every claim in the write-up must be a
frequency statement over these codes. Rules get revised only here, with a
dated note, so codings stay reproducible.

## Unit of coding

The legal name at a point in time. Where a public brand differed from the
legal name (Work and Income New Zealand vs Department of Work and Income;
ONTRACK vs New Zealand Railways Corporation), code both, flagged as
`legal` and `brand`. The divergence itself is a finding — count it.

## Dimension 1 — Form

One of:

- `department-of` — Department of X
- `ministry-of` — Ministry of X
- `ministry-for` — Ministry for X. Kept separate from `ministry-of`
  deliberately: *for* is advocacy framing (for Children, for Women, for the
  Environment) and its arrival is datable.
- `statutory-body` — Board / Commission / Authority / Corporation
- `company` — X Ltd / Limited; includes Crown companies (CHEs, NZ Rail Ltd)
- `brand` — a coined name with no organisational category word in it
  (ONTRACK, WINZ as used, KiwiRail)

Rule: code what the name says, not what the entity legally is. KiwiRail is
legally a company; the *name* is a brand. That gap is the point.

## Dimension 2 — Register (of the operative nouns)

Code each operative noun, then record the dominant register:

- `function` — what the thing does: Works, Railways, Labour, Health, Pensions
- `client` — who it serves: Children, Women, Seniors, Vulnerable Children
- `aspiration` — the desired outcome: Development, Innovation, Growth,
  Employment (as goal), Social Security (as promise)
- `coined` — invented or metaphorical: Oranga Tamariki, Te Whatu Ora (the
  weaving of health), KiwiRail

Rule: code nouns, not adjectives, except where an adjective is the argument
("Vulnerable" in Ministry for Vulnerable Children — record such cases in
notes; they are rare and usually newsworthy).

Edge case, decided: "Social Welfare" codes `function` (administering
welfare); "Social Development" codes `aspiration`. The 1999–2001
Welfare → Policy → Development sequence is the canonical specimen.

## Dimension 3 — Language

- `en` — English only
- `mi` — te reo only
- `dual-mi-first` — both, te reo primary (Oranga Tamariki—Ministry for
  Children)
- `dual-en-first` — both, English primary (Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora)

Rule: primacy = order in the legal name as gazetted or enacted, not in
logos or letterheads. Where official order flips without a rename
(Te Whatu Ora ↔ Health New Zealand), that is an event (`rename`) only if an
instrument effects it; otherwise record in notes with the directive cited.

## Dimension 4 — Length

Word count of the legal name, English words and te reo words counted
separately. No judgement encoded; the claim writes itself from the numbers.

## Coding discipline

- Code from the instrument text or Gazette notice, never from a logo,
  a news story, or memory.
- Every coding lives in the dataset next to its source link, so any reader
  can dispute any cell.
- When a name resists the categories, the categories are wrong or the name
  is a finding. Either way it goes in the notes and, if needed, a dated
  rule change here.

## Revision log

- 2026-08-07 — First draft. `ministry-for` split from `ministry-of` and the
  legal/brand distinction added after both showed up in the first three
  lineages (WINZ, ONTRACK, Ministry for Vulnerable Children).