5.4 Connotation

Connotation refers to the personal aspect of lexical meaning, often emotional associations which a lexeme brings to mind” (Crystal, 2005, p. 170). Connotation creates a set of associations. These associations create the connotation of the lexeme, but they cannot be its meaning. Sometimes a lexeme is highly charged with connotations. We call such lexemes loaded, e.g., fascism, dogma, and others. Irina Arnold differentiates between connotation and denotation. She believes “The conceptual content of a word is expressed in its denotative meaning; however, connotative component is optional” (p. 40). Some scholars, such as Stephen Ullmann (1962, p.74) find binary distinction between connotation and denotation. The best explanation of the relationship between denotation and connotation is given by Leech (1981): “The connotations of a language expression are pragmatic effects that arise from encyclopaedic knowledge about its denotation and also from experiences, beliefs, and prejudices, about the contexts in which the expression is typically used” (as cited in Allan & Brown, 2009, p. 138). Connotations express points of view and personal attitudes; therefore, they may cause certain reaction, which will motivate semantic extension and creation of a new vocabulary.

5.5 Reference

Lyons defines reference “the relationship between an expression and what that expression stands for on particular occasions of its utterance” (p.174). He states that reference depends on concrete utterances, not on abstract notions. It is a property of only expressions. It cannot relate single lexemes (book) to extra-linguistic objects since it is an utterance-dependent notion. Reference is not generally applicable to single word forms, and it is never applicable to single lexemes (p.197). For instance, the expressions Mary’s book, great books, and on the book may be used to establish a relationship of reference with specific items as referents. In these examples, the reference of these expressions containing book is partly determined by the denotation of the lexeme book in the overall system of the English language. So, the difference between denotation and reference is that “reference is a utterance-bound relation and does not hold of lexemes as such, but of expressions in the context” (Lyons, 1977, p.208). Denotation, on the other hand, is “a relation that applies in the first instance to lexemes and holds independently of particular occasions of utterance” (p.208).

5.6 Sense

Sense is defined “to hold between the words or expressions of a single language independently of the relationship, if any, which holds between those words or expressions and their referents or denotata (Lyons, 1977, p.206). He also draws a line between a sense and a meaning. Regarding the sense, we ask the question, “What is the sense of such a word or expression?--instead of “What is the meaning of such a word or an expression?” Sense is an internal relation. Lyons further analyzes that the relationship of denotation is logically basic: we know that cow and animal are related in a certain way because denotatum of cow is included into the denotatum animal. However, the problem occurs with such a word as a unicorn, which does not have a denotation. The sentence There is no such animal as unicorn is understandable; however, There is no such book as a unicorn is odd because animal and unicorn are related in sense, but a unicorn and a book are not related in sense; therefore, it is a nonsensical sentence. Even if the words and expressions do not have denotation, they still may have sense.

We should also draw the distinction between reference and sense. Reference deals with “the relationship between linguistic elements, words, sentences, etc., and the non-linguistic world of experience” (Palmer, 1981, p. 29), while sense deals with “the complex system of relationships that hold between the linguistic elements themselves and is concerned with extralinguistic relations” (Id. p. 29).