![]() ![]() (Daniel Chandler, Semiotics: The Basics, 2nd ed. These are typically related to the interpreter's class, age, gender, ethnicity and so on. ![]() The term 'connotation' is used to refer to the socio-cultural and 'personal' associations (ideological, emotional, etc.) of the sign. In the case of linguistic signs, the denotative meaning is what the dictionary attempts to provide. "'Denotation' tends to be described as the definitional, literal, obvious or common-sense meaning of a sign. It denotes 'belonging to, or characteristic of, the past.' But far more important than that central meaning is the connotation, or rather two quite different connotations, that have gathered about the nucleus: (1) 'valuable, worthy of honor and emulation' and (2) 'foolish, ridiculous, out-of-date to be avoided.' With such words the large outer, or connotative, circle is significant the nucleus small and insignificant." The expression old-fashioned, for instance, hauls a heavy load of connotations. What matters is their secondary or suggestive meanings, not their relatively unimportant denotations. Some words have large and diffuse meanings. "Connotation looms larger than denotation in other cases. We may think of such words as small and compact-all nucleus, so to speak. That is their virtue: they denote an entity or concept precisely and unambiguously without the possible confusion engendered by fringe meanings: diode, spinnaker, cosine. Most technical terms, for example, have very little connotation. "Individual words vary considerably in the relative weight of their denotative and connotative meanings. The Relative Weight of Denotative and Connotative Meanings. ![]()
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