01 / Force modes
Attraction / Detraction
Attraction condenses. Detraction stretches relation without breaking it.
Established term · relational depth
Semantic Gravity
Context-dependence.
Then relation.
“The key concepts are the organizing principles of semantic gravity (context-dependence) and semantic density (complexity).”
Legitimation Code Theory · Semantics ↗
That is the established definition. Semantic Gravitation keeps it intact, then asks what relations compose a context and what meaning does as it passes through them.
Visual bridge
Definition first.
Definition first.
Relation goes deeper.
Semantic gravity tells us how strongly meaning depends on context. It does not claim to be the whole system of meaning. Three Semonika concepts open the next layer: Attraction / Detraction, Complementarity, and Relatio.
02 / Relation mode
Complementarity
Difference can fit. Relation does not require resemblance.
03 / Primary relation
Relatio
Meaning is not added to relation. Meaning happens through relation.
01 / Established definition
Semantic gravity is context-dependence.
Within Legitimation Code Theory, semantic gravity varies in strength. Meaning can be more tightly tied to a particular context or less dependent on that context. Semantic density is the paired concept for complexity.
Stronger semantic gravity
More context-dependent.
Meaning relies more strongly on a particular setting, case, or practice to remain intelligible.
LCT TERMcontext-bound
Weaker semantic gravity
Less context-dependent.
Meaning can travel further from a particular setting and be expressed more abstractly or generally.
LCT TERMmore abstract
02 / Beyond the definition
Context-dependence is not the whole relation.
The definition tells us how tightly meaning is tied to context. It does not name every relation inside that context, nor what those relations do to meaning.
Attraction
Concentrates, converges, and increases local relational density.
Detraction
Controlled relational stretch: enough slip to preserve transfer without breaking the relation.
Complementarity
A bee and a flower do not need to resemble each other. Their differences can become mutually consequential.
Relatio
Similarity is one mode of relation. Complementarity is another. Relatio is prior to both.
Relatio makes meaningful sense.
03 / Relational instrument
Relation Lab
This is not a simulation or redefinition of LCT semantic gravity. It is a conceptual instrument for seeing what becomes visible when context is treated as a system of relations.
Scenario
Complementary fit
A
B
context
Candidate B is not the most similar item. It is the one whose different function fits the current need.
Prominence
Similarity
Complementarity
Tonus
Takt
Context-only score
0.37
A context-only comparison sees low similarity and only moderate prominence, so the candidate looks weak.
Boundary: this instrument belongs to this site’s explanatory bridge. It is not the LCT definition of semantic gravity and not a universal ranking law.
04 / State + timing
Relation also has a state and a moment.
Two further terms describe conditions that a simple attraction metaphor does not capture.
Tonus
Is the system ready?
The state of readiness of a system to perform its next action in the current configuration.
Takt
Can the relation work now?
The timing condition under which different processes can become mutually effective.
Semantic gravity tells us how meaning depends on context.
What composes that context?
What relations receive meaning, transform it, sustain it, and give it consequence?
SEMANTIC GRAVITYDEFINED SCOPE ENDS HERE →
Next field
Meaning through relation.
Semantic gravity names context-dependence. It does not, by itself, describe the full relational system through which meaning arises and moves.
Explore Semonic Fields →
Discipline
From field to Semonika.
Semonic Fields asks where meaning can emerge. Semonika asks how meaning arises, gains structure, persists, moves through relation, and becomes form.
Continue to Semonika →
06 / Source boundary
Definition intact. Extension clearly marked.
The quoted definition comes from the official Legitimation Code Theory Semantics page ↗. What follows it on this site is our bridge into the wider relational vocabulary of Semonika.
DEFINED
Semantic gravity: context-dependence.
PAIRED
Semantic density: complexity.
OUR BRIDGE
Which relations compose context and carry meaning?
DEEPER FIELD
Semonika studies what meaning does in a living system.