Connotative meaning

Denotative, significative and connotative meanings

Lexical meaning is not homogeneous either. The plane of content in speech reflects the whole human consciousness, which comprises not only mental activity but also emotions. So lexical meaning may be analyzed as including denotational and connotational components.

The notional content of a word is expressed by the denotative or denotational meaning also called referential or extentional meaning.

Denotative meaning is the interrelation between the sound form of the linguistic sign and the concept, on the one hand, and the object named, on the other hand.

To denote, then, is to serve as linguistic expression for a notion or as a name for an actually existing object referred to by a word. The term denotatum or referent means either a notion or an actually existing individual thing to which reference is made.

Denotative meaning should be distinguished from significative meaning. Significative meaning is the interrelation between the sound form of the linguistic sign (phonetic word) with the concept of the object it denotes.

The emotional content of the word is its capacity to evoke or directly express emotions. It is rendered by the emotional or expressive counterpart of meaning, also called emotive charge< intentional or affective connotations of words.

Connotative or connotational meaning is termed as part of lexical meaning expressing the emotive charge and stylistic value of a linguistic unit.

The emotive charge is one of the objective semantic features proper to words as linguistic units and forms part of the connotational component of meaning. Let us compare the following words: like, love, cherish, adore, worship. We cannot fail to observe the difference in the emotive charge of the members of this set of synonyms. The emotive charge of the words adore and worship is much heavier than that of the words like and love.

The emotive charge should not be confused with emotive implications that words may acquire in speech. The emotive implication of the word is to a great extent subjective as it depends on the personal experience of the speaker, on the mental imagery the evokes in him. Words seemingly devoid of any emotional element may possess strong emotive implications in the case of certain individual speakers.

The meaning of many words is subject to complex associations originating in habitual contexts, verbal or situational, of which the speaker and the listener are aware, and which form the connotational component of meaning.

In some words the realization of meaning is accompanied by additional stylistic features revealing the speaker’s attitude to the situation, the subject-matter, and to his interlocutor.

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