Metasemiotics Without Representation: A Relational Ontology of Semiosis: Series Introduction

Language is often treated as a system of signs mapping to pre-existing meanings. But what if we take a relational, ecological view, grounded in relational ontology? What if semiosis — the generation of meaning — is not about representation at all, but about actualisation of potential within context?

This six-post series explores a metasemiotic perspective on language and semiosis:

1. Post 1 – Semiosis and Relational Ontology: introducing construal as first-order actualisation.

2. Post 2 – Beyond Representation: how metasemiotic potential structures what can be construed.

3. Post 3 – Construal as World-Making: first-order events as perspectival actualizations.

4. Post 4 – Metasemiotic Systems: structured potentials and their relational affordances.

5. Post 5 – Context and Ecology: the relational field in which construal and potential interact.

6. Post 6 – Completing the Cycle: semiosis as recursive, ecological, and emergent.

Throughout, the series emphasises:

• Potential → actualisation → context → feedback as the cycle of semiosis.

• Relational ontology as the guiding framework: meaning emerges from relations, not representation.

• Metasemiotic systems as ecological instruments: grammar and categories exist to enable, constrain, and mediate action.

This resonates with broader metasemiotic thinking. It is an exploration of what our own relational-ontological model says about semiosis itself — a step toward understanding language as a living, emergent, and ecologically embedded phenomenon.