<p>Classical information theory provides powerful tools for quantifying uncertainty in symbolic systems but remains largely agnostic to meaning. Many real-world systems, cognitive, linguistic, social, and institutional, are meaning bearing: interpretation itself influences state evolution. This work proposes a structural framework for analyzing such systems as constrained informational systems (CIS), characterized by entropy behavior, boundary conditions, irreversibility, and phase transitions.&nbsp;</p> <p><span>We introduce semantic state spaces in which interpretations are treated as informational states subject to constraint-driven dynamics. Within this framework, semantic entropy measures unresolved interpretive alternatives, while constraint injection reshapes the geometry of meaning-space, producing stabilization, path dependence, and hysteresis. We argue that semantic ordering can arise through entropy gradients without persuasion, enforcement, or belief convergence, yielding attraction toward low-entropy configurations analogous to ordering phenomena observed in other constrained systems.&nbsp;</span></p> <p><span>The analysis specifies empirical signatures and falsification criteria, remaining agnostic to metaphysical interpretation and independent of physical substrate. By extending information theoretic reasoning to meaning-bearing systems, this work aims to provide a formal foundation for studying semantic dynamics across domains while preserving testability and scope discipline.&nbsp;</span></p> <p><span>In treating constraint as a primitive structural feature rather than as an auxiliary regulator, the proposed treatment isolates a diagnostic system class characterized by the structural consequences of constraint location. Within this class, systems exhibit characteristic failure modes under particular constraint configurations, including epistemic paralysis under excessive constraint, chaotic dissolution under insufficient constraint, and catastrophic over-coherence when constraint collapse reduces semantic plurality to a single dominant attractor. The failure modes arise from state evolution under constraint regimes; they are “misconfigurations” only relative to epistemic viability or functional intent. The framework further introduces a classification and phase-space lens for analyzing these dynamics, enabling comparison across domains without presupposing normative, metaphysical, or substrate-specific commitments.&nbsp;</span></p>