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A connotation is a commonly understood cultural or emotional association that any given word or phrase carries, in addition to its explicit or literal meaning, which is its denotation. A connotation is frequently described as either positive or negative, with regard to its pleasing or displeasing emotional connection. [ 1 ]
They, in turn, can be broken up into five sub-types: connotative, collocative, social, affective and reflected (Mwihaki 2004). The connotative meanings of an expression are the thoughts provoked by a term when in reference to certain entities. Though these meanings may not be strictly implied by relevant definitions, they show up in common or ...
French semiotician Roland Barthes used signs to explain the concept of connotation—cultural meanings attached to words—and denotation—literal or explicit meanings of words. [2] Without Saussure's breakdown of signs into signified and signifier, however, these semioticians would not have had anything to base their concepts on.
To coin a word to refer to a thing, the community must agree on a simple meaning (a denotative meaning) within their language, but that word can transmit that meaning only within the language's grammatical structures and codes. Codes also represent the values of the culture, and are able to add new shades of connotation to every aspect of life.
The origins of the word pickaninny (and its alternative spellings picaninny and piccaninny) are disputed; it may derive from the Portuguese term for a small child, pequenino, meaning "tiny". [3] The term was apparently used in the seventeenth century by slaves in the West Indies to affectionately refer to a child of any race. [4]
Sexual slang is a set of linguistic terms and phrases used to refer to sexual organs, processes, and activities; [1] they are generally considered colloquial rather than formal or medical, and some may be seen as impolite or improper.
But connotative meanings are context-dependent, i.e. the addresser must learn how to match the meaning intended by the addresser to one of the various possible meanings held in memory. The power of connotation is that it enables the addresser to more easily consider abstract concepts and to introduce subtlety into the discourse.
Although they have similar meanings, denotation should not be confused with reference. [8] A reference is a specific person, place, or thing that a speaker identifies when using a word. [6] Vocabulary from John Searle's speech act theory can be used to define this relationship. [9]