Lecture 4. CONNOTATIVE WORD MEANING CONNOTATIVE WORD MEANING Semantic structure of a word; grammatical and lexical meanings Stylistic connotation Emotive connotation and expressive connotation Evaluative Inherent connotation and adherent connotation Semantic structure of a word. Grammatical and lexical meanings There are different meanings of a word according to various approaches: grammatical and lexical. - Grammatical meaning indicates whether it is a noun, a verb, an adjective, etc. - Lexical meaning can be subdivided into denotative and connotative meanings. Semantic structure of a word. Grammatical and lexical meanings Denotative meaning is the major meaning of the word because the prevalent function of a word is to express the concept (‘meaning’ or ‘semantic structure’) of an object, process or phenomenon. ‘denotative’ meaning ::: notional or logical meaning. Semantic structure of a word. Grammatical and lexical meanings Connotative meanings give us information about extra-linguistic factors. The list of connotative meanings varies with different linguistic schools; it includes such connotations as pragmatic (the desired aim of the utterance), ideological, or conceptual (revealing political and social preferences of the speaker) and etc. Semantic structure of a word. Grammatical and lexical meanings The following 4 components of connotative meaning are most widely recognized: 1) Stylistic – indicating the register, or the situation of the communication; 2) Emotive – revealing emotions of the speaker; 3) Expressive – aiming at creating the image of the object or intensifying a definite phenomenon; 4) Evaluating – stating the value of the indicated event or process. Semantic structure of a word. Grammatical and lexical meanings A word almost always possesses a denotative, but it may not have any connotations. Or it may have all four connotations simultaneously, or only some of them in various combinations. Stylistic connotation A word possesses stylistic connotation if it belongs to a certain functional style, register, specific vocabulary or subgroup of vocabulary (archaisms, barbarisms, slang, jargon, etc), for example: a losel (archaic), slumber (poetic), to proceed (bookish), en passant, chic (barbarism). Stylistic connotation Stylistic connotation stands apart from the emotive, expressive and evaluative connotations which are interconnected and interdependent. Stylistic connotation of a word can be identified with more or less certainty. Dictionaries usually use special labels to mark the register of the word, such as arch., inform., coll., etc. Stylistic connotation There are various names for this phenomenon in stylistic studies: stylistic colouring, stylistic connotation, stylistic meaning, stylistic markedness. Emotive connotation and expressive connotation Emotive (affective) connotations convey various feelings and emotions of the participants of the conversation. Expressive connotation can be subdivided into two groups: 1) Intensifying connotations which intensify the utterance, increase its force; 2) Image-creating or figurative connotations, when certain parts of the utterance are logically emphasized with the help of striking images. Emotive connotation and expressive connotation Speaking about creating expressiveness we should mention a particular group of words – so-called intensifiers (absolutely, frightfully, really, quite, etc. In contrast to them downtoners make the meaning of words they modify less strong (slightly, a bit of, a sort of, etc.) Emotive connotation and expressive connotation I.R. Galperin says that expressiveness is a broader notion than emotiveness, that emotiveness is an integral part of expressiveness and occupies a predominant position in the category of expressiveness. On the contrary, I.V. Arnold maintains that emotive connotation always entails expressiveness, but not vice versa. All emotive words are also expressive, but there are hundreds of expressive words which can be not treated as emotive. Evaluative connotation Evaluative connotations convey negative or positive attitude of the speaker to the object of speech. All words possessing an emotive meaning are also evaluative (rascal – мошенник, ducky – голубчик). This rule is not reversed , as we can find nonemotive, intellectual evaluation (good, bad, progressive, undemocratic). Evaluative connotation Practically all emotive words are also expressive, while there are hundreds of expressive words cannot be treated as emotive. to stride – to walk with quick long steps; to crab – to move sideway, like a crab. When a word has an emotive connotation it is necessarily accompanied by evaluative and expressive connotations. Inherent and adherent connotation All connotative meanings can be divided into inherent (permanent) and adherent (occasional) connotations. Inherent connotations are integral characteristics of a word as a unit of language-as-a-system, they are present in a word taken separately, without any context. Inherent and adherent connotation The majority of the words are neutral. But when we come across a stylistically coloured word, e.g. bookish, solemn, official or colloquial, dialectal, vulgar – its sphere of usage can be easily reconstructed. Bookish: proceed, attire, decline (a proposal) Neutral: continue, clothes, refuse Colloquial : go on, rags, turn down So, these words have inherent stylistic connotation. Inherent and adherent connotation A word can also have emotive, expressive or evaluate inherent connotation. Collins dictionary: The word ‘cute’: something or someone that is cute is very pretty or attractive, or intended to appear pretty or attractive. [informal] So, besides the informal stylistic connotation the word ‘cute’ has positive evaluative (pretty or attractive) and expressive (very) inherent connotations. Inherent and adherent connotation Adherent connotations appear in the context when a word functions as a part of language-in-action. A word without any inherent connotations may acquire additional colouring in the context. It is not also uncommon when inherent connotations are amplified or drastically changed under the influence of the surrounding words: ‘Oh, great! You have broken the window!’ The word great with positive inherent connotation has the contrary – negative – adherent connotation
