Canonical Semantic State

Canonical semantic state is the deterministic reference representation used for SKC comparison, compression and reconstruction.

Why canonicalization matters

Two representations can express the same semantic structure while differing in:

• source ordering
• formatting
• serialization details
• identifiers
• redundant statements
• presentation structure

A deterministic system cannot safely compare those states until the relevant equivalence rules are made explicit.

Concept

Representation A ──┐
                   │
                   ├── Canonicalization ── Canonical State
                   │
Representation B ──┘

This convergence is valid only where the semantic contract explicitly defines A and B as equivalent.

Canonicalization requirements

A useful canonical-state contract should make clear:

1. which fields are semantically relevant
2. which ordering rules apply
3. how identifiers are normalized
4. how duplicate information is treated
5. how graph relations are represented
6. what remains outside the canonical boundary

Determinism

For the same referentially closed semantic input and the same canonicalization contract, repeated processing should produce equivalent canonical state.

Important boundary

Canonicalization does not decide whether the represented knowledge is true.

It establishes a reproducible semantic representation of the supplied knowledge.

Research direction

SKC work toward a canonical semantic state space asks whether multiple source representations can be mapped into a stable semantic state suitable for:

• compression
• reconstruction
• comparison
• verification
• interoperability

Next

Continue with Reconstruction →.