has participant concretizes occurrent part of process specifically dependent continuant generically dependent continuant material entity concretization-utilization process concretization-interpretation process communication A process in which some participant shares some generically dependent continuant with some other participant. The former utilizes some specifically dependent continuant that concretizes the generically dependent continuant intended to be shared, while the latter interprets that specifically dependent continuant to concretize some particular generically dependent continuant, aiming to accurately infer the other participant’s intent. For example, if you tell someone, “It is raining,” you produce sounds that have patterns that concretize information about the weather. Your utilization of that concretization is part of the communication. When the other person hears you, they interpret those patterns to concretize something, which may or may not be the same as what you intended to convey. In other words, they interpret the sounds you produce to have meanings associated with them, and that interpretation process is another part of the communication. If a process does not have a part of each type, it is not a communication. Mathias Brochhausen Matthew Diller S. Clint Dowland The interpretation need not correspond exactly to what was intended by the other participant. The term 'participant' in the definition need not refer to a human agent. William R. Hogan