Analogies between material object exchange and communication
abound in figures of speech, e.g. "exchange of ideas" But, as
transfer of information entails no loss of it to the donor, the
obvious analogy fails. To explicate, I consider first a formal,
minimal naive theory OT M of object location/possession and
transfer. Failure of the obvious analogy translates as absence of
any intuitable model of communication related to OT M by an
isomorphism which maps people ("possessors") to people, and
objects ("possessions") to ideas ("propositions", "infons").
Isomorphisms to a counterintuitive model MC M of
communication and belief are, however, exhibited which map
objects to people ("believers") and persons to ideas. Under the
interpretation appropriate to MCM , the schemata of crucial
postulates of OT M instantiate to epistemic instances of the Laws
of Contradiction and Excluded Middle. MC M features
complementary ideas which, as it were, appropriate or lose
adherents. Empirical instantiations of this apparently
counterintuitive theory are shown to occur in the lexicologies and
ideologies of possession by ideas (and, perhaps, by their yet more
anthropomorphic spirit avatars) and in the grammar of expressions
for a change of mind. Thematic role structure, relations to
"middle' constructions and, briefly, use in verbal action are
discussed. I conclude that the mental leap reflected in the linguistic
data warrants use of moderately formal tools to investigate open
class lexica of natural languages for underiying theories.