What do we quantify when we attempt to quantify semiotic systems and theories? How sound are potential quantifications in terms of interpretive values within some varieties of semiotic theory? We will make a distinction between formalization and quantification in order to understand what to quantify, how to quantify it and why quantification may be a desirable outcome for semiotic theory. The implications of this stance may be relevant and philosophically interesting in light of the naturalized project of biosemiotics. In this paper we will try to understand some ideas behind the rationale of formalizing and quantifying semiotic phenomena and discuss whether this possibility can or should map to functionalized descriptions of semiosis and the sign.

当我们试图量化符号系统和理论时，我们量化了什么？在某些符号学理论中，就解释价值而言，潜在量化的合理性如何？我们将区分形式化和量化，以了解量化什么、如何量化以及为什么量化可能是符号学理论的理想结果。鉴于生物符号学的自然化项目，这种立场的含义可能具有相关性和哲学意义。在本文中，我们将尝试理解形式化和量化符号现象的基本原理背后的一些想法，并讨论这种可能性是否可以或应该映射到符号和符号的功能化描述。