The Denotative & Connotative Meanings.
Denotative meaning expresses the conceptual content of a word./Arnold/ An art of verbal communication is made possible due to the fact that words have denotative meanings that is they denote concrete things or concept of things.
The connotative meaning unlike the denotative meaning is optional. It is a pragmatic communicative value which the word receive by virtue of where, when, how, by whom, for what purpose & in what contexts it is or may be used.
There are 4 types of connotations.
1. Emotive or emotional connotation. It is acquired by a word as a result of its frequent use in contexts corresponding to emotional situations or because the referent named in the denotative meaning is associated with emotions. The emotive component may be expressed morphologically (for example in the word "child-ish") or may have no specific linguistic form.
2. Stylistic reference. Verbal communication takes place in different spheres of human activity. Each of these spheres has a definite way of linguistic expression known as functional styles. Stylistic reference refers to words which are preferably used in one style. For example: dismiss-discharge-sack (st.r is inherent) e.g. The luxury hotel for dogs is to be opened in LIme. The fury guests will have medical care & high standard cuisine.
3. Evaluative connotation. It expressed approval or disapproval conveying the speakers attitude to the object of speech. Very often this component is a part of the denotative meaning. e.g. magic-witchcraft-sorcery.
4. Expressive connotation. It either increases or decreases expressiveness of the message. e.g. splendid, magnificent. They are all used colloquially as the terms of exuberation. We often come across words which have 2 or 3 types(even 4) at one. For example, the word beasty.
Stylistic Classification of English Vocabulary.
The notion of stylistic opposition of the English vocabulary.
In the English vocabulary we find stylistically marked & stylistically neutral words. Stylistically marked words are divided into stylistically formal (words of literary stylistic layer) and informal (words of non-literary stylistic layer). These are privative, binary oppositions. Stylistically formal vocabulary occurs in books and magazines. We hear it from a lecture, a public speaker in official talks. These types of communication are often prepared in advance. Words are used with precision, the vocabulary is elaborated. The informal vocabulary is used in personal two way everyday communication. The vocabulary may be determined socially or regionaly.
The words of literary style layer. They are also called standard English. They are divided into literary colloquial(neutral) & literary bookish. Literary colloquial denote everyday concepts, they constitute the core of the English vocabulary. Literary bookish words divided into:
1. Terms They are any word or wordgroup used to name a notion, characteristic of some special field of knowledge, industry or culture. They may be popular terms known to the public at large (e.g. medical terms) and those used exclusively within a profession (e.g. linguistic terms).
2.Learned words The learned vocabulary comprises some archaic connectives, such as "hereby"-"сим", "herein"-"при сем". Some formal words "approximate, indicate", some set expressions "as follows, in terms of..."
3.Archaisms They are words that were once common, but they are now replaces by synonyms or dropped from the language.
Archaisms proper. They are obsolete words that dropped from the language. e.g. anon
Historisms. That are words denoting concepts & phenomena that have gone out of use. They are names of social relations, institutions & objects of material culture of the past. e.g. bloomers, gig. many words remain in the vocabulary in their figurative meaning. e.g. shield- защита
Morphological archaisms. They are archaic forms of non-archais words. e.g. go-goes=>goeth(arch)
Poetisms. They are archaic words used in poetry. e.g. slumber, wow - sorrow.
4. Barbarisms. They are words from other languages used by English people in conversation or in writing but not assimilated in any way and for which there are corresponding English equivalents. For example: Chiao! They have become facts of the language and fixed in dictionaries.
5. Foreignisms. They are words of foreign origin that have not been assimilated into English and they do not belong to the word-stock of the English language. e.g. Bonmot.
6. Neologisms. They are newly coined word or phrase or a new meaning for an existing word or a word, borrowed from aanother language. Neologissms are words and expressions crated for new things irrespective of their scale of importance.
7. Nonce-words. They are words coined for one occasion. They are individual neologisms, created after the existing word-building patterns for stylistic purpose & having value for the given text.
The words of non literary stylistic layer or Informals.
Colloquialisms. They are words used in conversational types of everyday speech.
Literary colloquial Denote the vocabulary of educated people in the course of ordinary conversation
Familiar colloquial It is more emotional and more free and careless.
Low colloquial It is used to characterize the speech of illiterate population
Slang. These words are identified as expressive, mostly ironiswords serving to create fresh names for some things of frequent usage. e.g. go to nuts - to go crazy
Vulgarisms. They are divided into vulgarisms proper & trite. a)Vulgarisms proper are very rude & vulgar words used to insult or humiliate. b)Trite vulgarisms have lost their shocking power and they are close to standard colloquial words. e.g. Damn it.
Jargonisms . Divided into professional & social (argot) a)Professional jargonisms are used within a profession . e.g. teenfish - submarine. b)Social jargonisms are used within social age groups.
Dialectical words. They are words and expressions used by common people in certain regions of a country. Suggestive of the origin and educational and cultural standard of the speaker. For example in Hamshire dialect we can hear "z" instead of "s", and "v" instead of "f"