# Phase Transitions in Affective Meaning Divergence: The Hidden Drift Before the Break

Source: [Phase Transitions in Affective Meaning Divergence: The Hidden Drift Before the Break](<https://www.sota2.com/research/paper/6a02b411dbc836b87d8246bb>)

Collection index: [llms.txt](<https://www.sota2.com/research/llms.txt>)

Data updated: 2026-05-14T05:00:05.130Z

Authors: Napassorn Litchiowong

Published: 2026-05-09T16:30:47.000Z

## Abstract

One partner says "Fine" meaning "resolution"; the other hears "surrender." The word is shared; the affective uptake is not. We formalize this as affective meaning divergence (AMD), the total-variation distance between interlocutors' anchor-conditioned affect distributions. Building on speech-act theory, common-ground accumulation, and entropy-regularized game theory, we derive a logit best-response map whose dynamics undergo a saddle-node bifurcation: when $\\beta\\alpha \> 4$, a monotone increase in AMD-driven load produces an abrupt, hysteretic collapse of repair coordination. On Conversations Gone Awry (CGA-Wiki; $N = 652$), derailing conversations exhibit critical-slowing-down (CSD) signatures across multiple levels: lexical divergence variance ($p \< 0.001$, $d = 0.36$), AMD variance ($p = 0.001$, $d = 0.26$), and dialog-act repair variance ($p = 0.016$, $d = 0.20$), all significant after correction and stronger than toxicity and sentiment baselines. AMD provides a distinct temporal signature, with retrospectively measured variance peaking at the bifurcation point while toxicity variance peaks earlier, and is the only indicator grounded in the theoretical framework. Boundary-condition analysis on CGA-CMV ($N = 1,169$) yields mixed but directionally consistent evidence.

## Recorded benchmark results

A research result applies to its stated dataset, split, metric and evaluation configuration. Compare like-for-like settings, preserve the metric's unit and direction, and distinguish paper-reported results from independent reproduction. The best result recorded here is not a claim of exhaustive, current global coverage.

- [Detecting early-warning signals for conversational breakdown on CGA-Wiki ConvoKit release (test)](<https://www.sota2.com/research/sota/detecting-early-warning-signals-for-conversational-breakdown-on-cga-wiki-convokit-release-test.md>): Detecting early-warning signals for conversational breakdown; CGA-Wiki ConvoKit release (test); Tau Derail: -0.2.

## Original sources and implementation

[Original paper](<https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.09043>)

[PDF](<https://arxiv.org/pdf/2605.09043.pdf>)