Meaning is one of the most controversial terms in lexicology.

At present there is no generally

accepted definition of meaning. Prof. Smirnitsky defines meaning as "a certain reflection in the
mind of objects, phenomena or relations that makes part of the linguistic sign, its so-called inner
facet, whereas the sound form functions as its outer facet".

Generally speaking, meaning can be described as a component of the word through which a
concept is communicated, enabling the word to denote objects in the real world.

There are two approaches to the study of meaning: the referential approach and the

functional approach.

 The former tries to define meaning in terms of relations between the word (sound form),
concept (notion, thought) and referent (object which the word denotes).

The functional approach to meaning is less concerned with what meaning is than with how it
works. It is argued, to say that "words have meanings" means only that they are used in a
certain way in a sentence.

The two main types of meaning are grammatical meaning and lexical meaning

Grammatical meaning belongs to sets of word-forms and is common to all words of

the given part of speech,

e.g. girls, boys, classes, children, mice express the meaning of "plurality".

Lexical meaning belongs to an individual word in all its forms. It comprises several

components. The two main ones are the denotational component and the
connotational component.

The denotational ( = denotative) component, also called "referential meaning" or

"cognitive meaning", expresses the conceptual (notional) content of a word; broadly, it
is some information, or knowledge, of the real-world object that the word denotes.
Basically, this is the component that makes communication possible.

e.g. notorious "widely-known", celebrated "known widely".

The connotational (connotative) component expresses the attitude of the

speaker to what he is saying, to the object denoted by the word. This
component consists of emotive connotation and evaluative connotation.

1) Emotive connotation ( = "affective meaning", or an emotive charge),

e.g. In "a single tree" single states that there is only one tree, but "a lonely
tree" besides giving the same information, also renders (conveys) the feeling
of sadness.

We shouldn't confuse emotive connotations and emotive denotative

meanings in which some emotion is named, e.g. horror, love, fear, etc.

2) Evaluative connotation labels the referent as "good" or "bad",

 e.g. notorious has a negative evaluative connotation, while celebrated a
positive one. Cf.: a notorious criminal/liar/ coward, etc. and a celebrated
singer/ scholar/ artist, etc.

It should be noted that emotive and evaluative connotations are not

individual, they are common to all speakers of the language. But emotive
implications are individual (or common to a group of speakers), subjective,
depend on personal experience.

e.g. The word "hospital" may evoke all kinds of emotions in different
people (an architect, a doctor, an invalid, etc.)

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