Full Idea
The possibility of our understanding propositions which we have never heard before rests on the fact that we construct the sense of a proposition out of parts that correspond to words.
Gist of Idea
We understand new propositions by constructing their sense from the words
Source
Gottlob Frege (Letters to Jourdain [1910], p.43)
Book Reference
'Meaning and Reference', ed/tr. Moore,A.W. [OUP 1993], p.43
A Reaction
This is the classic statement of the principle of compositionality, which seems to me so obviously correct that I cannot understand anyone opposing it. Which comes first, the thought or the word, may be a futile debate.