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Lines returned by episode search and mentions carry speaker_statement_characteristics: four labels that describe how a line is said, not what it is about. Use them to tell a confident prediction from a hedged aside, or a pointed criticism from a passing remark, without reading every line.

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The four axes

Combinations read naturally: specific + future is a concrete prediction, confident + positive + future is a bullish call, and negative + specific is a pointed criticism.

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What a label means

  • A pole label means the line clearly reads that way. positive, hedged, specific, future and the other poles are assigned only when the reading is clear.
  • The middle label means “not clearly either pole”. A borderline line takes neutral (or present for temporal_orientation), so the middle label is not a measurement of neutrality. Most lines sit in the middle on at least one axis.
  • Labels describe one statement, not the speaker. A guest who is bullish on a company can still make a hedged, backward-looking remark about it.
  • Labels are read from the words. Tone of voice is not part of the reading, so sarcasm and irony can be misread.
  • Labels keep their meaning over time. When the model that reads lines improves, each new version is held to the same standard before it labels anything.

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Which lines carry them

  • Lines in topic-discussion and interview segments. Lines in intros, outros, ad reads and other structural segments carry none, and neither do short lines such as “Yeah.” or “I don’t know.”
  • Every line of a returned window: the is_match and is_mention lines and the context lines around them.
  • The object is absent, not null, on a line without labels.
Labels ride on the lines a query returns. Whole-transcript endpoints, such as transcripts and segments, do not carry them.

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In MCP

particle_podcast_search_transcripts and particle_podcast_find_mentions end each line with its pole labels, for example _[confident · positive · future]_. Middle labels are left out of that short form; _[neutral]_ marks a line that leans clearly on no axis, and a line without brackets carries no labels. With output_format=json, each line has the full speaker_statement_characteristics object.