2 Relational Semantics, Reimagined: 3 Instantiation as Perspectival Actualisation

Introduction: From Potential to Event

In the previous post, we explored the metafunctions as ontological dimensions—axes along which semantic potential is structured and differentiated. Now we examine the moment when potential becomes actualised: the instantiation of meaning. In relational ontology, instantiation is not mere occurrence; it is a perspectival actualisation—a cut through the lattice of semantic potential that simultaneously delineates what is realised and what remains latent.

Every utterance, construction, or textual event is perspectival. It does not simply exist; it emerges from a relational field, interacts with prior actualisations, and generates constraints that shape subsequent potentialities. To understand instantiation is to see meaning as dynamic, relational, and ecological, in continuous interplay between potential and constraint.

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Instantiation as Cut

Each semantic event is a cut: a selective delineation in a multidimensional semantic space. Choosing a word, a tense, or a clause is not merely functional; it is a perspectival act, slicing through the lattice of ideational, interpersonal, and textual potentials.

For example, consider the phrase: “The wind tore the leaves.” This choice actualises particular ideational processes (wind as agent, leaves as patient), interpersonal stances (descriptive, perhaps dramatic), and textual flows (foregrounding the wind, sequencing events). At the same time, it excludes alternative possibilities: the leaves are not “gently drifting,” the rain is not foregrounded, and the observer’s alignment is constrained by narrative stance. The instantiation is perspectival: it both illuminates and obscures, differentiates some potentials while leaving others latent.

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Relational and Ecological Dynamics

Instantiation is relational: every cut interacts with prior and concurrent actualisations. Just as a river’s course is shaped by sediment deposits, tributaries, and surrounding topography, a semantic event emerges from historical, structural, and relational conditions.

In ecological terms, think of a microhabitat: the species that colonise it are not randomly chosen but emerge from prior conditions, interactions, and constraints. Similarly, semantic instantiations navigate a lattice of constraints—grammatical, pragmatic, historical—while generating ripple effects that reshape relational potentials across the lattice. Each cut is thus simultaneously emergent and generative.

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Perspective and Selection

Instantiation is perspectival because it is selective. A speaker or writer does not realise the full spectrum of semantic potential; they actualise a subset, informed by context, intention, and relational field. Perspective determines which potentials are foregrounded, which edges are navigated, and which cuts are made.

This selection is ecological: the actualisation occupies a relational niche. Just as a plant thrives only in suitable soil, light, and moisture, a semantic instantiation unfolds within systemic, historical, and interpretive conditions. Constraints guide emergence; freedom within those constraints produces differentiation and novelty.

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Temporal Dimension of Instantiation

Instantiation is temporally stratified. A semantic cut is shaped by prior history, interacts with concurrent events, and influences future potentialities. Past actualisations create edges and channels that constrain or enable present choices; unrealised potentials linger as latent relational fields; and the act of instantiation generates conditions for subsequent differentiation.

Time, therefore, is not merely sequential; it is layered and perspectival. Each cut both emerges from a temporal ecology and participates in its ongoing evolution. Semantic events are ecological phenomena, occurring in a lattice of historical, spatial, and relational constraints.

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Natural Analogy: River Bifurcations

To visualise perspectival actualisation, consider a river splitting into multiple channels at a delta. Each droplet follows a path determined by topography, sediment, and currents. The choice of channel is not random: it is guided by the relational environment.

Similarly, each semantic instantiation flows along channels of potential shaped by prior cuts, structural constraints, and relational dynamics. The path selected actualises one set of potentials while leaving others latent, yet it simultaneously reshapes the channels themselves, influencing subsequent flows. Instantiation is thus both guided and generative, ecological and perspectival.

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Constraints as Generative Forces

Constraints are intrinsic to perspectival actualisation. They are not limits imposed from without; they are scaffolding that enables differentiation. Grammatical rules, discourse norms, and systemic affordances channel semantic potential, focus emergence, and produce coherent configurations.

Without constraints, the lattice of potential would remain undifferentiated. Every instantiation would be arbitrary, unrelational, and incoherent. With constraints, actualisations become cuts that structure relational space, produce edges, and generate the conditions for further differentiation. Constraints are, in this sense, the preconditions of semantic creativity.

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Interaction Across Metafunctional Dimensions

Each instantiation traverses the metafunctional dimensions simultaneously. Ideational, interpersonal, and textual potentials are not realised independently; cuts across one axis influence possibilities along the others.

• Selecting a process (ideational) shapes interpersonal alignment and textual flow.

• Choosing a modality or stance (interpersonal) constrains ideational interpretations and textual foregrounding.

• Arranging given-new information or cohesion patterns (textual) influences which ideational or interpersonal potentials can be realised subsequently.

Instantiation is multidimensional cutting, an act of relational navigation across axes of semantic potential.

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Liora as Experiential Analogy

If we revisit Liora from Series 1, her movement through the Wells of Unchosen Paths exemplifies perspectival actualisation. Each step is a cut: she navigates a lattice of potentials, actualises some paths while leaving others latent, and interacts with constraints imposed by prior choices, relational configurations, and the topology of the Wells.

Similarly, semantic instantiation navigates the lattice of potential. Each utterance, each construction, is an ecological move, perspectival and relational, unfolding within a network of constraints and affordances. Meaning is lived through these instantiations, which both reflect and reshape the semantic field.

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Concluding Reflection: Actualisation as Relational Event

Instantiation, in relational semantics, is perspectival actualisation. It is a cut in a multidimensional lattice of semantic potential, shaped by constraints, historical edges, and relational dynamics. Each cut produces differentiation, sustains coherence, and generates conditions for future emergence.

Three principles emerge:

1. Perspectival selectivity – only a subset of potential is realised in each instantiation.

2. Relational interdependence – every cut interacts with prior and concurrent actualisations.

3. Constraint-driven emergence – edges, rules, and systemic affordances focus and guide differentiation.

By reconceiving instantiation in this way, we bridge structured potential, metafunctional dimensions, and actualisation. Meaning is not static; it is ecological, perspectival, and emergent.

In the next post, “Meaning Change as Reconfiguration of Constraints”, we will examine how these perspectival actualisations accumulate, interact, and transform the semantic lattice over time, producing innovation, evolution, and emergent differentiation.