Denotation vs. connotation

Scholars are divided in their treatment of the distinction between denotation and connotation, or denotative versus connotative meaning. As we have already seen, denotation suggests a certain ‘cognitive, conceptual meaning’ or, simply put, objective meaning of a word. Denotative meaning refers to the relationship between a linguistic sign and its referent (or denotatum), whereas connotation is essentially stylistic and constitutes additional properties of lexemes (colloquial, baby, biblical, casual, dialectal, formal etc.). Very often, the connotation of a lexeme amounts to the positive or negative associations it evokes or conjures up (cf. Ukr. викликає, пробуджує). Lyons offers an illustration of the distinction between denotation and connotation by way of the opposition between lake and loch in Scots English. Denotationally, the two items are similar, and all that sets them apart is their differing connotations. In fact, lake has a perfectly neutral connotation, while loch, which is Gaelic in origin and used in Scotland in place of lake, is often invoked in contexts to do with that particular part of Great Britain, for all kinds of stylistic effects or in poetic contexts. Another example may be Good night vs. Nighty-night. Denotation and connotation are both important in order to determine word meaning in a given context. Freedom fighters – insurgents/ rebels – terrorists.

 

Connotation is also known as affective meaning, since it refers to the emotive or associational aspect of a term. Connotation may be personal (stemming from experience, e.g. swimming) or common to a group (such as emotions raised by the name of a political leader: G. W. Bush). Connotations often give insight into the associations of the real usage of a word.

Some words have particular negative or particular positive connotation and they spread it across the phrase or the sentence they occur in. For example, terrorism or terrorist, that denotes ‘someone who uses violence such as shooting, bombing to obtain political demands’, is usually used in negative context and with a connotation that is typically disapproved of. On the other hand, cheer, denoting ‘to shout showing happiness, praise, approval or support of somebody or something’ usually has a positive connotation and spreads it across the sentence it is used in, occurring typically with the nouns: audience, spectators, fans, etc.

Connotation may be more restricted in scope to a particular generation (blitz to people living in the Second World War) or to a group of people (black cloud – bad luck that a medical professional brings with him or her’, to bounce back – to be readmitted after being discharged from hospital) or even to a personality.

Connotation may be restricted to particular group of people, for example the name reservation has a negative connotation among Native Americans – an intern camp of sorts. “Since ‘tribe’ has assumed a connotation of primitiveness and backwardness, it is suggested that the use of ‘nation’ or ‘people’ replaced the term whenever possible in referring to Native American peoples” (Moor 2005:53).

Connotation which is shared by a large proportion of speakers can be considered as a contributory feature to the meaning of the lexeme.

Connotational meaning in dictionaries is usually identified by means of semantic labels such as derogatory, pejorative, euphemistic. In a number of cases, however, the negative and positive aspects of words remain implicit in the denotational part of the definition, or rather, the denotational definition is formulated in such a way that the connotational information may be derived from the choice of words in the definition. For instance, crook is defined as ‘a dishonest person or criminal’; the negative charge of the words in definition may indicate the pejorative load of the headword.

The art of choosing the right word is also dependant on what the register for the concept you want to convey is, or what your opinions are. Using the right word one will make our writing and speech more accurate, descriptive and interesting. We usually have to ask a question whether this is the right word to communicate the meaning we want to or there is another one that expresses it better.

To illustrate this, let us consider the following phrases: ‘the little house’, ‘the diminutive house’, ‘the petite house’. How does the meaning of the phrase change with little, diminutive or petite? All these words have overlapping and synonymous meaning but each of them provides a particular connotation. Little may suggest endearment as well as size, diminutive – good construction, and petite – prettiness and quaintness. Of course there are no set rules, the meanings of words are constantly changing and also depend on the background of the reader and the context in which they are used. A ‘diminutive house’, for instance, might also convey to someone else the idea of a pitiable or contemptible residence and not particularly that of a good construction.

Connotation is the pragmatic communicative value which the word receives depending on when, where, how, by whom, for what purpose and in what contexts it may be used. In other words, connotations render the emotional associations the words suggest. For example, chubby, plump, tubby and obscene all have related denotative meaning (fat), but different connotative meanings. And careful writers choose words both for what they mean and for what they suggest. And if we are trying to pay someone a compliment, we better get the connotation right.

Here is another example. The following words refer to “thin”, but the connotations may be quite different depending, in part, on the context in which they appear: bony, frail, lanky, slender, skinny, thin and slim. Some of these words tend to carry favourable connotations (slim – someone who is slim is attractively thing (LDCE), slender – thing and graceful (LDCE), others – unfavourable (lanky – unattractively tall and thing (LCDE), scrawny – unattractively thing and weak looking (LDCE), others are fairly neutral (thin – having little fat on your body (LDCE).

There are four types of connotation: stylistic (rhetoric), emotional, evaluative and expressive/intensifying. The four components may be all present at once, or in different combinations or they may not be fond in the word at all. There are words without any connotations (terms, for example).

Emotional connotations render various feelings or emotions (e.g. mom vs mommy). Feelings differ from emotions. Emotions like joy, disappointment, pleasure, worry, surprise, are more short-lived. Feelings imply a more stable state, or attitude, such as love, devotion, pride, dignity, respect, etc. It is important to distinguish words with emotive connotation from words, describing and naming emotions and feelings, like frustrated, angry, joyful, irritation, etc. Emotionally charged words can cover the whole spectrum of both positive and negative emotions, from surprise, respect, tenderness and other positive emotions on the one hand to grief, irony, scorn and hatred on the other.

The emotive charge of words is to a great extent ‘contextually dependent’, as it greatly depends on the situation, the speaker and the speaker’s attitude towards the utterance. In some cases words which seemingly devoid of any emotive connotation may possess strong emotional implication. As an example we can suggest the word ‘prison’ and imagine the scope of emotions it can evoke in a convict, a doctor who works there, an architect designing the building, and a passer-by.

Evaluative connotation shows approval/disapproval of the object being discussed (e.g: group

vs. gang). With descriptive words a car can be expensive, with evaluative connotation it can be overpriced; a house can be left by its owners, or it can be abandoned. As with emotive connotation evaluation can be subjective, for example, the attribute in ‘an adorable puppy’ is subjective, as a different person may say that the puppy looks ordinary.

 

 

In some contextual setting the word can realize its positive meaning, in the other one – negative. This is enantiosemy – a case of polysemy in which one sense is in some respect the opposite of another. Enantiosemy is realized by means of a specific prosody of the utterance that is the tone, the pitch of the voice, etc. In other words, it is created by the “incompatibility of lexis and prosody, that is to say the direct meaning of the word and the purport of the intonation with which it is spoken” (Минаева:55).

The example is the word precious, which means – ‘of great value or beauty’ as in ‘precious stones’, precious pictures’. But in a certain context the adjective can be used with pejorative connotation, showing that you are annoyed that someone seems to care too much about something: Your precious career is becoming more important than your family! Here the prosodic invariant is pronounced with a mid-falling tone and a small pause before it. This prosodic variant is typical to the words with pejorative connotation. By using different kinds of prosodic arrangement, the speaker can express anger and irritation, irony or sarcasm as in the sentence: You’ve got us into a nice mess!

 

TASK 1 Try to determine the connotations of the italicized words: 1. Linda had to figure out how to pay the rent after her husband spent the money on another of his hare-brained schemes. 2. I had to fork out a lot for that present. 3. Give mommy the doggie then. 4. Let me get you the aforementioned. 5. I hear you raise a lot of sheep down under. 6. Some other people commented that they saw Bill Clinton schmoozing with reporters. 7. Please tender exacrc="adsbygoogle.js">