Dictionary definitions can sometimes be circular, and are of little use to second language speakers in determining meanings of unknown words. Mental images are included in some meanings, but they are usually the most common examples of the object, and abstract words, such as justice and honor, have no mental images associated with them. Also, mental images vary a great deal among individuals, although the meanings associated with the images do not. Many words actually stand for or represent actual things or people in the world. However, language can be used to talk about fiction , fantasy , or speculation, and therefore meaning must be extended to these non-real objects so conceived.
Meaning involves a relationship between language and the world.
The ultimate determiner of meaning, however, is the speech community. Language in use can have many different meanings depending on the rules of conversation and pragmatic language use. Semantics is the study of meaning in language. The signals in any communication system have meaning, and semantics looks at the relations of signs to meaning. Connotative meaning includes a mental context, which can be interpreted as an individual idea, and cultural context, which would take into consideration the cultural meaning for certain words or ideas.