Yes, thought precedes communication, but communication situations are where we use these “laws of thought.” I guess you could also use them in your own mind, but since you would be putting everything into words (else no chance to use the laws of thought, which are about wordings), it is a situation of communicating with yourself. It’s more direct to ask for clarification (even from yourself), because ever since Heisenberg there have been a lot of people who seem to think embracing contradictions might be OK sometimes. The law-of-thought approach prompts such a response, but asking for clarification doesn’t. You either get clarification or they refuse to clarify and then at least there is temporary closure to the matter.