Inherent and adherent connotation

The connotative component of meaning can be occasional or usual (inherent or adherent). Connotation can be inherent to the semantic structure of the lexeme – the words on their own imply positive or negative appreciation. Names like Napoleon, Bill Gates or Judas cannot be uttered without invoking a world of associations. The words like drunk, murder, pervert call up horrible images that their dictionary definitions may simply not suggest. The same is true about associations which the words angel, faithful, beautiful, super can awoke.

An inherent connotation can change the basic meaning of words and that of the words it touches. For example white can suggest purity, innocence (the white wedding dress), lion – courage, Paris – love and romance, snake – deviousness, paparazzi – intrusion into one’s private life).

Sometimes the words can have only adherent (occasional) connotation acquired in a certain context. We know that words chance their meaning depending on where they are placed. The word ‘great’ seems quite a clear word to understand, but its meaning, the images and ideas it creates in the mind change drastically when you speak of a ‘great man’, great river’ or a ‘great elephant’. When notional words are used metaphorically about something that is pleasant or unpleasant for the speaker, we deal with adherent connotation. This metaphorical meaning is lexicalized, it is a set phrase – bear (a big man who is rough and bad tempered), beast (someone who is cruel or unpleasant or something that is difficult to deal with), vulture (someone who uses other people’s troubles for their own advantage),

scroodge (someone who hates spending money - ), scarecrow (an object made to look like a person that a farmer puts in a field to frighten birds).