Reference, Denotation and

Connotation
• An overly simplified idea:
• A language consists of a large number of words
and each of these words has a direct
correlation with something outside of language,
which is its meaning.
• Semiotic Triangle of Ogden and Richards
(1923)

• Ogden and Richards called the bond between

word and concept an ‘association,’ the bond
between concept and object ‘reference,’ and
the bond between object and word ‘meaning.’
 Reference and Denotation
• Reference is the relation between a language
expression such as this door, both doors, the
dog, another dog and whatever the expression
pertains to in a particular situation of language
use, including what a speaker may imagine.
• Denotation is the potential of a word like door
or dog to enter into such language expressions.
• Reference is the way speakers and hearers use
an expression successfully.
• Denotation is the knowledge they have that
makes their use successful.
• Meaning is more than denotation.
• People not only talk and write to describe things
and events and characteristics; they also
express their opinions, favorable and
unfavorable.
• Language furnishes the means for expressing a
wide range of attitudes.
• This aspect of meaning is called Connotation
• It elicits the affective or emotional associations, which
clearly need not be the same for all people who know
and use the word.
• A denotation identifies the central aspect of word
meaning, which everybody generally agrees about.
• Connotation refers to the personal aspect of meaning,
the emotional associations that the word arouses.
• Connotations vary according to the experience of
individuals but, because people do have common
experiences, some words have shared connotations.
 Extension and Intension
• The extension of a lexeme is the set of entities
which it denotes.
• The extension of dog includes all collies,
dalmatians, terriers, mongrels, etc. that have
ever lived or will ever live and every fictitious
creature that is accepted as being a dog.
• All the things that can be denoted by the noun
lake are the extension of that lexeme.
• The lexeme Lake Ontario has a single item in
its extension, and the Caribbean Islands has a
single collection of items as its extension.
• The intension of any lexeme is the set of
properties shared by all members of the
extension.
• Everything that is denoted by lake must be a
body of water of a certain size surrounded by
land.
• Extension can change while intension remains
the same.
• The extension of the expression the capital of
Australia is a single item, the city of Canberra.
• The intension of the same term is ‘city in which
the national government of Australia is located.’