Ecologies of Possible Meaning: Semiosis through a Relational Ontology: Introduction: Cutting Into Meaning — A Relational Perspective on Semiosis

Language is often treated as a system of signs, a code, or a set of rules. But what if we approached it differently — as a field of relational potential, a dynamic ecology in which meaning is not simply represented, but actively constructed?

This series explores semiosis, metasemiosis, and the ecological activation of meaning through the lens of relational ontology. Our aim is to move beyond traditional frameworks that treat words, clauses, or texts as pre-given entities and instead foreground the perspectival and operational nature of construal.

What to Expect in the Series

• Posts 1–3: Explore how meaning emerges from the ecological field, how construal actualizes potential, and how linguistic structures guide this activation.

• Posts 4–5: Examine metasemiosis — the operations that cut, reorganize, and shape the field itself.

• Post 6: Bring together the threads of metasemiosis and ecology, showing how higher-order semiosis reshapes both context and system.

• Post 7: Compare this approach with existing ecosocial semiotic frameworks, highlighting what relational ontology uniquely explains.

Throughout, you will see that:

• Systems encode possibilities, not fixed meanings.

• Construal is perspectival, a cut into relational potential.

• Context emerges from actualizations of possibility.

• Metasemiosis reorganizes the field, enabling new forms of meaning.

This is a series for readers willing to engage with meaning as dynamic, emergent, and ecological — a series that challenges conventional assumptions about grammar, context, and semiosis itself.