Analysts then studied how people associate meaning to a word or a sentence and how these ideas are conveyed to others.
There are three beliefs of how words and meanings are related in the human mind:
- Meanings create some sort of mental pictures. When we see or hear a word, it brings up a picture in our mind that illustrates the concept.
- Meaning solely relates to the function of the word. This is a broader explanation of meaning, since not all abstract words and sentences can be concretely pictured.
- Logical methods relate the meaning with reference and the condition of usage. Each word evokes not only the meaning of the word itself but also other concepts associated with the topic based on the context.