语言逻辑性的本质是意义的逻辑性。皮尔士认为意义逻辑性的第一要义是思维的清晰，并将内容丰富但逻辑混乱的概念比喻为一团令人望而生畏的“泥浆”：

The very first lesson that we have a right to demand that logic shall teach us is, how to make our ideas clear; and a most important one it is, depreciated only by minds who stand in need of it. To know what we think, to be masters of our own meaning, will make a solid foundation for great and weighty thought. It is most easily learned by those whose ideas are meagre and restricted; and far happier they than such as wallow helplessly in a rich mud of conceptions.

在中国哲学思想中，逻辑基本上属于“理”的范畴。荀子说“文理情用，相为内外表里”（《荀子·礼论》），认为“文”（语言、文章）是不是站得住脚，要看它是否贯彻了“理”、“切理”（符合思维规律）。苟子在〈劝学篇〉中说：“乱顺而后与之言道之理”。庄子对“理”也很重视，〈知北游篇〉中说“四时有明法”，“万物有成理”。这个“理”就是客观规律性以及主观上如何“顺”（顺应）客观的规律性。南宋的文论家李廷机（生卒年不详）在《举业琐言》中谈到思维要“核事切理”的重要性。他说：“然规矩二术，亦自有辨。今人只糊涂认‘成法’为规矩，不知规取其圆，矩取其方。故文艺中有著实精发、核事切理者，此矩处也……”其实“理”、“规”、“矩”、“辞顺”、“理切”等等都是指自然语言的逻辑。爱因斯坦在“The Common Language of Science”中谈到的所谓语言规则(rules）也就是逻辑。他说：

If language is to lead at all to understanding, there must be rules concerning the relations between the signs on the one hand and on the other hand there must be a stable correspondence between signs and impressions. In their childhood individuals connected by the same language grasp these rules and relations mainly by intuition. When man becomes conscious of the rules concerning the relations between signs the so-called grammer of language is established.

从广义来理解，爱因斯坦两次提到的与交流效果休戚相关的rules，就是逻辑或叙事论理的条理、思维的条理（即“有条有理”），可以说是人际语言交流的、仅次于语义清晰的第二要义。下面一段英语语段，文字表面上并没有分条分项，但条理性很强。作者首先解释了“缴税”的时限前提，然后说明在什么情况下以及怎样减税，最后说纳税人究竟应缴多少税：