Semiosis is an emergent process: it possesses unique properties that depend on, but cannot be reduced to, its constituent material interactions. This view adopts a process-oriented ontology, where the stability of semiosis results from dynamic organization, rather than reference to static substances. Semiotic emergence reconciles continuity and novelty in meaning, in a process which is synchronic (emergence across hierarchical levels) and diachronically (emergence across temporal transformation). What emerges is Thirdness (mediation/generalization), seen either as semiosis itself, the interpretant, or as more habitual semiotic morphologies.