2 Relational Semantics, Reimagined: 1 The Semantic Stratum as a Relational Space

Introduction: From Systems to Semantics

Series 1 traced the architecture of possibility: systems as structured potentials, cuts and edges, ecologies of potential, and the narrative embodiment in Liora’s Wells. We now turn inward, to the stratum of semantics itself—not as a descriptive grammar of language, but as a relational space in which meaning emerges, differentiates, and evolves.

In Hallidayan terms, the semantic stratum mediates between context and expression, yet in a relational ontology, it is much more: it is a landscape of potential, a lattice of relational distinctions through which ideational, interpersonal, and textual meaning flow. To understand the semantics of a system ontologically is to see it as a space of possibility, structured, constrained, and perspectivally actualised.

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Semantic Potential as Structured Field

A semantic system is a field of relational potential. Words, morphemes, and symbolic forms are not inert labels; they are nodes in a network of differences and affordances. Each node occupies a niche shaped by historical usage, systemic constraints, and relational interactions.

Consider a verb in English: its potential is defined not only by its dictionary meaning but by its relational position among tense, aspect, mood, and collocational patterns. The verb’s full potential is only realised when it interacts with other nodes in the network. Just as a river delta is defined by channels and currents rather than by the water itself, the semantic stratum is defined by relational connectivity, not isolated elements.

This field is structured, not arbitrary. Constraints—syntactic, pragmatic, and historical—delimit potential, focus differentiation, and enable meaningful innovation. Semantic potential, like ecological potential, depends on both what is possible and what is structurally improbable. In relational terms, impossibility is generative: it channels emergence and ensures distinctions can be made.

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The Metafunctions as Ontological Dimensions

Halliday identifies three metafunctions—ideational, interpersonal, and textual—as lenses through which meaning is realised. From a relational ontology perspective, these are not merely analytic categories; they are dimensions of the semantic field itself, each representing a mode of cutting potential into differentiated reality.

• Ideational meaning structures the system’s representation of experience. It is the lattice through which potential events, states, and processes are articulated.

• Interpersonal meaning mediates relations between participants, establishing the relational architecture of influence, alignment, and negotiation.

• Textual meaning organises the system into coherent forms, creating edges, flow, and continuity across space and time.

Each metafunction interacts with the others, forming a multidimensional semantic space. Actualisations within one dimension reverberate across the others, producing emergent patterns of differentiation. This mirrors the ecological logic of Series 1: potential proliferates relationally, structured by edges, constraints, and historical configurations.

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Cuts and Actualisation in Semantics

In this semantic space, a choice—an utterance, a word selection, a textual arrangement—is a cut. It actualises a slice of potential, simultaneously delineating what is realised and what remains latent.

For example, when a writer chooses the past tense to narrate an event, that choice constrains some potentials (present-tense interpretations) while enabling others (reflective, distant perspectives). Every semantic cut is perspectival, relational, and ecological: it interacts with prior actualisations, relational constraints, and neighboring potentials to generate coherence, novelty, or tension.

As in the Wells of Unchosen Paths, unrealised potentials persist as latent relational fields, shaping future actualisations. Semantic emergence, therefore, is not linear or accumulative; it is ecological and perspectival, continuously interacting with its relational environment.

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Relational Networks and Semantic Topology

The semantic stratum can be visualised as a topology of potential. Nodes (words, morphemes, constructions) occupy positions relative to others, with edges representing constraints, affordances, or co-dependencies. Paths through this topology correspond to potential semantic trajectories: how one choice enables, limits, or redirects subsequent choices.

For instance, idiomatic expressions illustrate relational constraints: their potential for novel interpretation is shaped by historical usage and systemic coherence. Deviating too far from the relational lattice may yield incoherence; navigating within edges produces emergent meaning.

This networked topology is dynamic. Actualisations modify the field, creating new niches and redefining relational edges. Like an ecological system, the semantic stratum evolves through differentiation, interaction, and co-evolution.

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Temporal and Historical Dimensions

Semantic potential is historically conditioned. Previous actualisations—the ways language has been used, patterned, and conventionalised—shape the lattice of present possibilities. Similarly, unrealised potentials, like paths in the Wells, persist as latent relational constraints, influencing what can emerge in future instantiations.

Time, in semantics, is not merely sequential; it is stratified. The past informs structural possibilities; the present actualises them; the latent future remains an ecological horizon of potential. Semantic meaning is thus both actual and virtual, an interplay between realised cuts and persisting relational fields.

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Illustrative Analogy: Tidal Channels of Meaning

To visualise the semantic stratum, imagine a network of tidal channels. Each channel represents a potential path of expression, shaped by prior flows and the contours of the estuary. A drop of water—an utterance—follows a path determined by channels, currents, and interactions with other droplets. The channels constrain and enable, guiding emergence without predetermining it.

Similarly, semantic nodes exist in relational channels of affordance and constraint. Choice is both guided and generative: selecting one path actualises some possibilities while leaving others latent, and the network evolves in response. Meaning emerges ecologically, perspectivally, and relationally.

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Concluding Reflection: Preparing for the Metafunctional Dimensions

The semantic stratum, viewed as a relational space, is a lattice of structured potential, dynamically shaped by constraints, cuts, edges, and historical flow. Actualisation is perspectival, emergent, and ecological: each semantic event is a cut within a field of possibility, producing differentiation and modifying relational topology.

In the next post, “The Metafunctions as Ontological Dimensions”, we will explore how ideational, interpersonal, and textual dimensions act as ontological modes of cutting and structuring semantic potential. By moving deeper into these dimensions, we will see how meaning differentiates relationally across the semantic landscape, building upon the structured potentials, edges, and ecologies introduced in Series 1.