Canon Map — Stunspot’s Guide to Semantics, Semiotics, and Symbols
This canon maps Semantic-Semiotic Intelligence (SSI) as an operational discipline for models: how meaning is represented, how signs function, how claims become warranted, how context changes interpretation, how symbols accumulate social force, and how assistants can govern semantic failure at runtime.
The repository contains 14 source reports grouped into 4 conceptual volumes. The source reports are the canonical individual units and live in knowledge-packs/by-report/.
Volume 1 — Foundations of Representation, Meaning, and Evaluation
Volume 1 establishes the core machinery of meaning: map/territory discipline, sign-relations, linguistic structure, conceptual frames, and epistemic warrant. It is the best starting point for readers or models that need the canon’s primitives before using later diagnostic or governance layers.
| Code | Report | Function in the Canon |
|---|---|---|
| A | Reality, Representation & Abstraction | Establishes the semantic constitution: territory vs. map, non-identity, non-allness, indexing, dating, abstraction ladders, and representational failure modes. |
| B | Sign-Relations, Codes & Semiosis | Defines signs as relation-events among sign-vehicle, object, interpretant, code, and context; introduces semiosis, icon/index/symbol distinctions, and code systems. |
| C | Linguistic Structure & Compositional Meaning | Moves from signs to language structure: syntax, compositionality, lexical meaning, reference-bearing expressions, and how structure constrains interpretation. |
| D | Concepts, Categories & Frames | Explains how meanings cluster into concepts, prototypes, categories, frames, schemas, and interpretive expectations. |
| E | Reference, Grounding & Epistemic Validity — The Architecture of Warranted Semantic Action | Converts meaning into warranted use: claim, referent, truth condition, evidence, source relation, grounding path, confidence, uncertainty, and permissible action. |
Volume 2 — Operating Domains of Meaning Construction
Volume 2 shows meaning operating in context: pragmatic inference, metaphor, discourse, narrative, culture, ritual, memes, multimodal signs, and interfaces. It is the most useful volume for assistants that must interpret human communication rather than merely summarize documents.
| Code | Report | Function in the Canon |
|---|---|---|
| F | Context, Intention & Pragmatic Inference | Models how context, speaker intent, implicature, deixis, common ground, and pragmatic cues change meaning. |
| G | Metaphor, Embodiment & Cognitive Models | Explains metaphor as structured conceptual mapping, including embodied schemas and model-transfer risks. |
| H | Discourse, Narrative & Social Reality | Treats language as social action: discourse roles, narrative framing, institutional meaning, status, legitimacy, and shared reality formation. |
| I | Symbolic Culture, Myth, Ritual & Memetics | Maps cultural symbols, mythic structures, ritual action, memetic propagation, and the social charge attached to recurring symbolic forms. |
| J | Multimodal Signs & Interface Symbolics | Extends SSI into images, layout, UI, diagrams, icons, affordances, visual hierarchy, and cross-modal meaning. |
Volume 3 — Constraint, Instability, and Translation Layers
Volume 3 covers meaning under stress: ambiguous words, drifting categories, transfer between domains, and cross-cultural variance. Use it when an assistant must preserve nuance across unstable terminology or different interpretive communities.
| Code | Report | Function in the Canon |
|---|---|---|
| K | Ambiguity, Polysemy & Semantic Drift | Diagnoses sense ambiguity, polysemy, category instability, meaning drift, stale reference, and lexical misbinding. |
| L | Translation, Domain Transfer & Cross-Cultural Variance | Governs translation across languages, domains, cultures, disciplines, interfaces, and symbolic systems without false equivalence. |
Volume 4 — Failure Diagnosis, Manipulation, and Implementation
Volume 4 turns the canon into a runtime discipline. It identifies semantic pathologies and then defines infrastructure for active metadata, semantic routing, provenance, interpretive lenses, and assistant governance.
| Code | Report | Function in the Canon |
|---|---|---|
| M | Semantic Pathologies, Manipulation & Interpretive Failure | Maps reification, equivocation, framing manipulation, ideological distortion, source laundering, interpretive overreach, and semantic failure modes. |
| N | Knowledge Infrastructure, Artifacts & Assistant Governance — The Execution Layer of the Semantic-Semiotic Intelligence Canon | Defines the execution layer: ontological minimalism, active metadata, reusable lenses, semantic routing, provenance, citation faithfulness, and governance protocols. |
Compiled Packs
These are the recommended default upload units for most model-facing systems.
- Volume 1. A-E — Foundations of Representation, Meaning, and Evaluation
- Volume 2. F-J — Operating Domains of Meaning Construction
- Volume 3. K-L — Constraint, Instability, and Translation Layers
- Volume 4. M-N — Failure Diagnosis, Manipulation, and Implementation