Linguistic symbols are used in three different types of situations: (1) immediate, (2) displaced, and (3) transferred. Immediate symbolization occurs when the speaker employs a form in response to some factor in the immediate environment. For example, when a person spies a rat running across the floor and exclaims 'Look! There's a rat!' the employement of symbols is in response to an immediate situation. [...] Determining the meanings of forms occurring in an immediate context is comparatively easy.
- Nida (1949), Pag. 161