The Ontology of Language and Symbols: Transmission Validity: Cross-System Transfer of Cognitive Constraints

What is language? Is it a tool for describing the world, a medium for expressing thought, or a social convention? Energy-Efficiency Theory (EET) provides a first-principles answer: \textbf{language is the physical protocol by which finite cognitive systems externalize, transmit, and reconstruct cognitive constraints across system boundaries}. It is the fifth pillar of the EET methodological constitution — \textbf{Transmission Validity}. This document establishes the complete ontology of language and symbols from the generative foundations of EET Core Rules v6.0. We prove that language is not a cultural invention but an \textbf{evolutionarily stable strategy} under finite energy — the protocol by which finite multi-agent cognitive systems share their discoveries under the constraints of finite energy and finite distinguishability. The birth of a symbol is \textbf{Divide + Encapsulate + Adjudicate}. Writing freezes the protocol into persistent Shi. Grammar is fossilized causal inference. The binding of language is the cognitive straitjacket that enables communication at the cost of constraining thought. We formalize the protocol's MEER (Model Energy Efficiency Ratio) and derive four optimal protocol theorems. The Degeneration Corridor of language — semantic inflation, grammatical fossilization, and Pseudo-Shi proliferation — is analyzed as the functional-layer expression of Barrier Asymmetry and the Ben-Se Irreversibility Law. The cognitive binding force of language — how public symbols shape private cognition — is derived from the thermodynamics of protocol internalization. Version 1.2 introduces constitutional refinements:• The meta-paradox of language: L0’s denial of absolute truth conflicts with the necessary fiction of meaning stability; language operates on this fiction.• Black-box heterogeneity and encapsulation bias as the physical sources of meaning divergence.• De-encapsulate as the operation of definition, with the recursive predica-ment explicitly acknowledged.• The Impossibility Theorem: no protocol can fully achieve publicity, sta-bility, and normativity simultaneously.• Semantic inflation redefined descriptively as a low-MEER state, not a value-laden degradation.• LLMs as limit experiments: simulacra of protocols lacking First and Sec-ond Selves.• Wittgenstein-EET dialogue: description (Wittgenstein) vs. explanation(EET) are complementary. {Keywords}: Language; symbols; transmission validity; fifth pillar; protocol; Cut externalization; grammar; writing; degeneration corridor; semantic inflation; Pseudo-Shi; homonymous heteromorphism; synonymous polymorphism; Ben-Se oscillation; cognitive binding; aesthetic interface; LLM;c; Energy-Efficiency Theory