Our understanding of communication and its evolution has advanced significantly through the study of simple models involving interacting senders and receivers of signals. Many theorists have thought that the resources of mathematical information theory are all that are needed to capture the meaning or content that is being communicated in these systems. However, the way theorists routinely talk about the models implicitly draws on a conception of content that is richer than bare informational content, especially in contexts where false content is important. This article shows that this concept can be made precise by defining a notion of functional content that captures the degree to which different states of the world are involved in stabilizing senders’ and receivers’ use of a signal at equilibrium. A series of case studies is used to contrast functional content with informational content, and to illustrate the explanatory role and limitations of this definition of functional content. 1 Introduction 2 Modelling Framework 3 Two Kinds of Content 3.1 Informational content 3.2 Functional content 4 Cases 4.1 Case 1: Simplest case 4.2 Case 2: Partial pooling 4.3 Case 3: Bottleneck 4.4 Case 4: Partial common interest 4.5 Case 5: Deception 4.6 Case 6: A further problem arising from divergent interests 5 Discussion Appendix 1 Introduction 2 Modelling Framework 3 Two Kinds of Content 3.1 Informational content 3.2 Functional content 3.1 Informational content 3.2 Functional content 4 Cases 4.1 Case 1: Simplest case 4.2 Case 2: Partial pooling 4.3 Case 3: Bottleneck 4.4 Case 4: Partial common interest 4.5 Case 5: Deception 4.6 Case 6: A further problem arising from divergent interests 4.1 Case 1: Simplest case 4.2 Case 2: Partial pooling 4.3 Case 3: Bottleneck 4.4 Case 4: Partial common interest 4.5 Case 5: Deception 4.6 Case 6: A further problem arising from divergent interests 5 Discussion Appendix 

中文翻译：

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简单信令系统中的内容

通过研究涉及相互作用的信号发送者和接收者的简单模型，我们对通信及其演变的理解有了显着进步。许多理论家认为，数学信息论的资源是捕获这些系统中正在传达的含义或内容所需要的全部资源。然而，理论家们经常谈论模型的方式隐含地利用了比裸露的信息内容更丰富的内容概念，尤其是在虚假内容很重要的情况下。本文表明，通过定义功能内容的概念，可以使这个概念变得精确，该概念捕捉了世界不同状态在稳定发送者和接收者对信号使用的平衡程度方面的参与程度。一系列案例研究用于对比功能内容与信息内容，并说明功能内容定义的解释作用和局限性。1 介绍 2 建模框架 3 两种内容 3.1 信息内容 3.2 功能内容 4 案例 4.1 案例 1：最简单的案例 4.2 案例 2：部分池化 4.3 案例 3：瓶颈 4.4 案例 4：部分共同利益 4.5 案例 5：欺骗 4.6 案例 6 : 利益分歧引起的另一个问题 5 讨论 附录 1 介绍 2 建模框架 3 两种内容 3.1 信息内容 3.2 功能内容 3.1 信息内容 3.2 功能内容 4 案例 4.1 案例 1：最简单的案例 4.2 案例 2：部分池化 4.3 案例 3 ：瓶颈 4.4 案例 4：部分共同利益 4.5 案例 5：欺骗 4.6 案例 6：