Lecture 2

Topic: Types of Meaning

•Objectives
•Readings
•Denotative meaning
•Associative meaning
•Summary
 Objectives
By the end of the lesson, the student will be able to:

a) explain that meaning can be classified in different

ways.
b) distinguish between denotative and associative
meanings.
c) explain six kinds of associative meaning, with
appropriate examples
•Identify the meaning of the following key words
using the dictionary:
a) denote
b) connote
c) refer / referential
 Required reading

• Sekyi-Baidoo, Yaw. (2002). Semantics: An introduction.

Kumasi: Wilas Press Ltd. Chapter 4

Further Reading

• Leech, Geoffrey. (1985). Semantics: The study of meaning.

Cambridge: CUP. Chapter 2
 Introduction
— Different scholars have classified meaning in different
ways. In Week 1, we identified the seven types of
meaning discussed by Geoffery Leech (1985). We also
considered three types of meaning corresponding to
the semantic units word, sentence and utterance.
Revise your Week 1 slides to refresh your memory.
— In this lesson, we will focus on the seven types of
meaning identified by Leech (1985).
— Following Leech (1985), we will group the seven types
of meaning into two main types: denotative meaning
and associative meaning.
— Read on for details.
the basic meaning of a word
Denotative meaning has different other
names, including conceptual meaning,
referential meaning, central meaning, and
cognitive meaning.
• Denotative meaning is the core or basic meaning
a word has.

• The denotative meaning of a word is that

meaning it naturally has even before it is put
into use, socially or syntactically.
Features of denotative meaning
— We can identify the denotative meaning of a word using
what is technically called componential analysis.
— Componential analysis shows that the meaning of a word
consists of several components called semantic features.
— In componential analysis, we use the + and – signs to show
the presence or absence of a semantic feature, respectively.
— E.g. the word woman can be defined by the semantic
features: [+Human] [– Male] [+Adult] whereas girl can be
defined as: [+Human], [-Male], [-Adult]. The word man
can be defined as [+Human], [+Male], [+Adult] and boy is
defined as: [+Human], [+Male], [-Adult].
— We put semantic features in square brackets.
•Denotative meaning is relatively stable, i.e. it doesn’t
change easily. Denotative meaning does change but in a
very gradual way. For example, denotative meaning of
woman has remained stable for quite a long time.

•Denotative meaning is codifiable – i.e. it is the meaning

that is normally written in the dictionary. It serves as a
point of reference for the society.
the additional meanings associated with a word
Ø Associative meaning is the additional meaning a
word has as a result of the circumstances in
which it has been used.
Ø Leech (1985) identifies different types of
associative meaning as follow:
• connotative
• social
• affective
• reflected
• collocative
• thematic
• Connotation is the additional meaning of a word
which has been superimposed over and above its
basic conceptual meaning.
• Connotative meaning develops in the social,
cultural, economical or historical set up in which a
word is used.
• Connotative meaning varies from culture to culture
and from time to time; it is not stable .
Connotative meaning
An Example of connotative meaning
— Among many West African cultures, the word woman
connotes: weak, emotional and sentimental. Among
the Ibo people of Nigeria, a man who has no title or
great achievements can be called woman.

— Can you give the connotative meaning of two words on

your own? Please write down the answer in your note
book.
• The social meaning (also known as stylistic meaning) of
a word is its appropriateness according to formality (or
other social variables in language use).
• Although the following words or expressions have the
basic meaning ‘die’ they are different in stylistic
meaning. The stylistic meaning of each word is
indicated in brackets:

1. die (general)
2. demise (legal/formal)
3. kick the bucket (slang)
4. pass on (euphemism; journalistic)
• Affective meaning generally conveys the
speaker’s feelings and reflects his attitude to the
listener and or the topic.
• It is an expression which communicates the
feelings of the speaker, his perception or
attitude to the subject and the listener.
• Affective meaning can be positive or negative.
Characteristics of affective meaning:
• It is usually associated with the sentence rather
than any particular word
• It heavily depends on aspects of non-verbal
context such as voice, gestures, facial
expressions, touch and others.
• Aspects of affective meaning include – love,
hatred, like, dislike, care, carelessness,
sympathy, lack of sympathy, respect, disrespect,
interest, disinterest, anger etc.
• they are generally in response to a situation.
Reflected meaning applies to words with more
than one senses, one of which is normally sensual.
In this way, when we use the word in one sense,
one of its other senses is reflected on it. This other
meaning normally has a strong sensual power.
Reflected meaning
Consider the following sentences:
1. Trump and Kim had an intercourse on the
diplomatic relations between USA and N. Korea
2. The hunters penetrated the forest.
3. After we negotiated the curve, a huge building
erected before us.
— When we hear sentences like these, the sexual
sense of the highlighted words normally reflects in
our minds although the sense in which they are
used is not sexual. This other reflected sense is the
reflected meanings of the highlighted words.
• Collocation refers to the tendency for certain
words to occur together. The term itself comes
from the verb collocate, meaning ‘to go
together’.
• The collocative meaning of word refers to the
meaning a word develops from its frequent co-
occurrence with another or other words. Thus,
collocative meaning shows that: the meaning of
a word is determined by the company it keeps!
Collocative meaning
— Examples:
— the word beautiful normally collocates with female rather
than male so it has acquired the meaning ‘feminine’. On
the other hand, the word ‘handsome’ has acquired the
meaning ‘masculine’ because it collocates with words
denoting male.
— The words cute and pretty also collocate with nouns whose
referents is relatively small so ‘smallness’ has become part
of the meaning of cute and pretty.
Thematic meaning is that kind of meaning
communicated by the ordering of words in a
construction. In English sentences, the words that come
first constitute the Theme of the sentence.
Consider the following sentences:
1. The woman beat the husband (Active)
2. The husband was beaten by the woman (Passive)
Thematic meaning
— In sentence (1), the speaker is interested in what the
woman did. Here, ‘The woman’ is Theme.
— In (2), the speaker is interested in what happened to the
husband. The husband is Theme.
— The two sentences are therefore different in thematic
meaning.
•In this unit, we identified two broad categories of
meaning as denotative meaning and associative
meaning.
•We have also examined the features of denotative
meaning
•We have identified and explained different kinds of
associative meaning, namely connotative, stylistic,
affective, reflected, collocative, thematic meanings.
1. (a) What is componential analysis? (b) Provide a
componential analysis for the following words (i) dog,
(ii) table, and (iii) chair
2. Give and explain an example for each of the following
types of meaning:
a. connotative
b. stylistic
c. affective
d. reflected
e. collocative
f. thematic
Prepared by:
Dr. Isaac N. Mwinlaaru
Mr. Kyeremeh Yaw Sarkodie
Mr. Samuel Teye