Denotative vs.

Connotative,
Lexical vs. Stylistic Meaning

Prepared by:
Padua, Lyle Marie
Denotative vs. Connotative
• Meaning, for Vugodsky is a unity of thinking, generalization, and
communication. The meaning of a word is liable to historic
changes, which is responsible for the formation of an expanded
semantic structure of a word.
• In stylistics meaning is a category capable of acquiring new
aspects imposed on the words by the context. Such meanings are
called contextual.
• In stylistics it is important to discriminate shades of meaning, its
components called semes.
• Meaning can also be viewed in terms of information
theory. A word renders primary (denotative) and additional
(connotative) information that is ascribed to it in different
contexts. The first kind of information only denotes a
realia existing in an objective plane while the second kind
reflects the emotive plane of the word usage. If a word
has only connotative meaning it is stylistically neutral.
Denotative Meaning

The denotative meaning of word/s is a direct specific

meaning as distinct from an implied or associated idea. It
represents the explicit or referential meaning of a sign.
It is the strict dictionary meaning or the literal meaning of a
word.
Types Denotative Meaning
• Demonstrative
It is demonstrative if it makes reference to an actively existing
individual thing. This means that besides denoting a concrete thing,
action or notion, the word may also carry a connotation, an
overtone.
• Significative
It is significative if the word evokes a general idea of an object or
phenomenon.
e.g.
• Take a pill to ease your headache.
• Sunshine brightens my day.
Connotative Meaning
• Deals with or reflects the attitude of the interlocutors to what is
being said and to the conditions of communication. It represents
the various social overtones, cultural implications, or emotional
meanings associated with a sign.
• refers to emotive, expressive, evaluative and functional
components of human speech. Connotative meaning is the
suggesting of a meaning by a word apart from the thing it explicitly
names or describes.
e.g.
• She is the pill for my heartache.
• My children are my sunshine.
Lexical Meaning
• Lexical meaning is defined as the meaning of a base or root word
without considering any prefix or suffix which may be attached. It
is the meaning of a base in a paradigm, apart from any meaning it
may acquire as part of a sentence. Lexical meaning is relatively
stable and usually carries a conjugation or the schematic
arrangement of the inflectional forms of a verb.
e.g.
• the meaning of walk in conjugations walks/walked/walking
• the meaning of port in the words import and portable
Stylistic Meaning
• Stylistic meaning describes the formal features of texts for their
own sake and in order to show their functional significance for the
interpretation of a text.
• Stylistic meaning as distinguished from lexical one, which is
representing primary information, is based on the secondary
(additional) information. It denotes the features which are
adherent (ascribed) to the object while lexical meaning renders
inherent features that cling to a word as a permanent part of it.
• liable to change as it is affected by extralinguistic factors.
e.g.
• I will never go to that place again.
THANK YOU!