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In Roland Barthes' classic essay on the analysis of advertising images, he uses two terms
to name the primary kinds of meaning conveyed by linguistic and visual signs:
denotation is the dictionary meaning of the sign or word; it denotes something in the real
world
connotation is the culture- and context-dependent associations that are conveyed by the
sign or word.
1. The linguistic message (the text, present in the caption and elsewhere), comprising
a denoted linguistic message (the dictionary meaning)
a connoted linguistic message (the associative meaning)
The multiplicity of potential meanings made available by the complex image (through the
interplay of denotation and connotation in the linguistic and non-linguistic messages) are
controlled by two functions:
1. Anchorage – where the linguistic text is used to focus on one particular meaning or
to direct the viewer to one dominant meaning;
2. Relay – where the linguistic text works with the visual imagery to focus on an overt
meaning.