A Triadic Model of Information Flow

This paper combines aspects of formal concept analysis, Barwise & Seligman’s information flow theory and a Peircean notion of triadic signs. The goal of the paper is to formalize a model of communication that includes explicit, formal representations of signs, conceptual entities that are denoted by the signs and contexts in which the signs are used. Each triad of signs, conceptual entities and contexts contains a concept lattice for the relationship between signs and conceptual entities. Any basic communicative act, such as speaking or naming of an object, usually consists of several triads whose contexts are connected via infomorphisms in the sense of information flow theory. By explicitly describing signs and their conceptual entities, a theory is developed that can describe how linguistic units are disambiguated in natural communication. An example demonstrates how this theory can be applied to merging of ontologies that could be used by software agents in e-commerce.