Naming things

How are things named? Who decides that? How one person looks at a chair and say it's a chair? The process of naming things has been studied for many years and many theories have appeared. 

In order to name things, we have to think that the name of the thing is just "a mirror" that reflects the real thing. Nevertheless, if we accept this stance, the word of the thing would be only one specific thing, and no other concept could be possible. If this were viable, the translation between languages would be easy. 

However, this stance is too superficial because the process of naming things only works when naming physical things, not abstract things like feelings, actions, adverbs, etc. Also, symbols are not physical things, but concepts of a thing. For example, when we think about "a day", we imagine the Sun; nevertheless, the Sun does not represent a day, the Sun is just a concept of the word "day". 

There are two theories about the issue of naming things. 

• Referentiality

Referentiality refers to the form the signified takes. Some signifieds are socially constructed (some signifieds are the same in some cultures); or they are mentally constructed (each person will interpret the sign in different forms).

• Modality

Modality focuses if the message is reliable or not. When a person interprets a message, he can distinguish if the message is true or false.