Denotation and Connotation

In discussing meaning, some students of language make the traditional distinction between "denotation" and "connotation." We have said that words are meaningful only after we have associated them with some referents. When we speak of denotation, we refer to the primary associations a word has for most members of a given linguistic community. When we speak of connotation, we refer to other, secondary associations a word has for one or more members of that community. Sometimes the connotations a word has are the same for nearly everyone; sometimes they relate solely to one individual's experience or, more often, to the experience of a particular subgroup.

The connotations of words are often the occasion for disagreement and misunderstanding. Just a few years ago it was common to hear AIDS, or acquired immune deficiency syndrome, referred to even in the media as a "plague" of sorts. In spite of the popularity of this usage, there were many objections. For example, writer Susan Sontag (1989) argued that the word "plague" was not only inappropriate but had many moralistic connotations—historically, plague has often been associated with a punishment for sin. Thus in one dictionary the first definition of "plague" is "an epidemic disease of high mortality; pestilence," but the sixth definition has a theological cast: "to smite with a plague, pestilence, death, etc.; scourge: those whom the gods had plagued."

Changing social mores have also demanded many changes in how we use language. The word "gay," traditionally a synonym for "happy" or "cheerful," is increasingly used as a synonym for "homosexual." For example, "gay rights" is a familiar term not only in popular conversation but in the media as well. In fact, "homosexual" has become one of the denotations of the word "gay." Similarly, when we say that two people "live together" the connotation is often—though not always—that they have a sexual relationship. One has to interpret from context. Terms to refer to people who live together as an unmarried couple have proliferated—and the terms vary in their connotation:

How to handle the linguistic problem of what to call the person with whom one's daughter lives? "Lover" is too archaically lubricious by a shade or two. "Roommate" sounds like a freshman dorm. "Bedmate" is too sexually specific, but "friend" is too sweetly platonic. "Boyfriend" and "girlfriend" are a bit adolescent. "Partner" sounds as if they run a hardware store together. The Census Bureau calls "Partners of the Opposite Sex Sharing Living Quarters" or PossLQs. Mrs. Billie Jenkins, an elegant hostess who lives on Boston's Beacon Hill, has developed a rather sweet technique for inviting living-together couples to her parties. "I send an invitation to the one of the two I know better," says Mrs. Jenkins, "and I write a personal note on it saying, 'Of course you'll bring your darling George!' " (Time, November 27, 1978, p. 76)

One friend of ours coined the term "house mate" for his female live-in friend. This caused a misunderstanding, since we thought he said "housemaid."