C. S. Peirce defined the sign as a means to communicate a form or habit embodied in the object to the interpretant, thus constraining (through a sign) the behavior of an interpreter to a limited series of effects. This is part of the process of “semiotic scaffolding” in which sign relations interlock and reinforce one another, providing directionality to the process. In biological evolutionary studies canalization is defined as the adjustment of developmental pathways by natural selection to bring about a uniform result despite genetic and environmental variations. Establishing parallelism between the two concepts allows the possibility of understanding how semiotic processes introduce information from the environment resulting in canalization (and assimilation), determining “fixed” pathways to elaborate signal repertoires for particular species adapted to particular environments sensed by particular organs. This kind of sign action can produce an “encapsulation” process of the sign meaning, further affecting the meaning-making process developing in the receiver, a process affecting signal usage by animals, constraining agency of biological systems’ behavior towards a definite sequence of events or signals and providing a certain orientation of the process (“semiotic canalization”). Therefore, we can also say that signs could potentially be built by senders (i.e. by the sign-vehicle) in a sort of pre-determined way and not extracted by the receiver from a “neutral” sender. Semiotic canalization is seen as a part of a more general process of scaffolding during development, acting mainly during some information exchanges between communicating subjects, providing adaptive responses to some standard communicative situations.

CS Peirce将符号定义为一种将对象中体现的形式或习惯传达给解释者的手段，从而（通过符号）将解释者的行为限制为一系列有限的作用。这是“符号脚手架”过程的一部分，其中符号关系互锁并相互加强，为过程提供了方向性。在生物进化研究中，渠道化被定义为通过自然选择来调节发育途径，以在遗传和环境变化的情况下产生一致的结果。在这两个概念之间建立并行关系，可以理解符号过程如何从环境中引入信息，从而导致渠道化（和同化），确定“固定”途径，为适应特定器官感知的特定环境的特定物种精心制定信号库。这种符号动作可以产生符号含义的“封装”过程，从而进一步影响接收者中的意义形成过程，该过程影响动物对信号的使用，限制生物系统对特定事件序列的行为。或信号并提供过程的特定方向（“符号化渠道化”）。因此，我们也可以说标志可能由发送者（即，标志车辆）以某种预定方式构建，而不是由接收者从“中性”发送者中提取出来的。符号化渠化被视为开发过程中更普遍的脚手架过程的一部分，