GEOFFOREY LEECH’S

MODEL OF MEANING

PRESENTATION BY: SHOLMIAT

NASIR CLASS NO: 17
GEOFFREY LEECH’S CATEGOREIZATION
OF MEANING
 A dictionary entry primarily
incorporates a deep knowledge of
meaning. Semasiology and
lexicology compilation.
 In this regard Geoffrey Leech gave
the Leech’s Model of Meaning.
 He divided the meaning into several
categories.
 SEVEN TYPES OF MEANING

1. Conceptual
2. Connotative
3. Social
4. Affective
5. Collocative
6. Thematic
 CONCEPTUAL MEANING

 It is also known as
“denotative” ,“cognitive” meaning .
 Leech considered conceptual
meaning as primary .
 Conceptual meaning refers to literal
or dictionary meaning.
 EXAMPLE

 The meaning of the English

word Women can be
specified as consisting of
the semantic feature.
+ HUMAN, -MALE,
+ADULE.
 Needle (thin,sharp,steel etc.)
 CONNATATIVE MEANING
 Connotative meaning is the communication
value an expression has by virtue of what it
refers to, over and above its purely conceptual
content.
 Connotative impacts how readers perceive the
overall meaning of what a writer or speaker is
trying to communicate.
 EXAMPLE
O It suggest different associations than its literal
meaning.
O For instants, blue is a color, but is also a word
used to describe a feeling of sadness, as in:
“She’s feeling blue”
NEUTRAL POSITIVE NEGATIVE
 TYPES OF CONNATATION
Positive connotation
 Conjure a favorable emotional response.
 For example, describing someone ambitious as a
“go-getter”.
Negative connotation
 It presents the person or thing in an favorable light.
 Example: describing ambitious person as an
“overachiever”.
TYPES OF CONNATATION
Neutral connotation:
 This is when we simply talk about something
with a neutral point of view.
 No attached positive or negative connotation.
The statement, "He is ambitious” suggest a
person works hard and strives to achieve,
without judgment on whether the ambition is
good or bad thing.
SOCIAL OR STYLISTIC MEANING
 The meaning conveyed by the piece of
language about the social context of its use is
called social meaning.
 Social meaning is related to the situation in
which a utterance is used .
 It is also with the accordance of geographical
status.
 EXAMPLE
I ain’t done nothing
 The line tells us about the speaker THE
SOCIAL
And that is the speaker is probably a MEANING
Black American, underprivileged and OF
LANGUA
Uneducated. GE
 AFFECTIVE OR EMOTIVE
MEANING
 Affective meaning is a meaning that is conveyed by
reflecting the personal feelings of the speaker
including his attitude to the listener, or his attitude
to something is he talking about.
 This type of meaning deals with the way a language
can reflect personal feelings.
It refers to emotive association or effects the words
evoked in the readers, listener. Affective meaning is
often conveyed through conceptual, connotative
content of the words used
 DIRECT AND INDIRECT AFFECTIVE
MEANING

EXAMPLE OF DIRECT EXAMPLE OF INDIRECT

1. You are a horrible
‘Be quiet ,
person and I HATE
YOU (DIRECT please ! ‘
MESSAGE) And
2. I don’t like you
because you’re not
‘shut up’
a nice person
REFLECTIVE MEANING
 Reflected Meaning is the one which arises in
cases of multiple conceptual meanings,
when one sense of a word forms part of our
response to another.
 It is the case where reflected meaning intrudes
through the sheer of strength of emotive
suggestions and is illustrated by a word that
has different meanings
 EXAMPLE
• Dear: used for
affection /expensive
• The comedian
normally used
words that make
reflected meaning of
their jokes.
 EXAMPLE
Example in poetry
In poetry too we have reflected meaning as in
Daffodils:
A poet could not be gay,
In such a jocund company
Example of Taboo words
Reflected meaning is also found in Taboo words
like addition
COLLOCATIVE MEANING
 “Collocative meaning consist of the
association a word acquires on a account of
the meaning of words which tend to occur in
its environment”
 Therefore collocation is a broad term which
describes words that often appear together in
common usage, either spoken or in text.
 A group of words that are expected to be
together because of their habitual use.
 EXAMPLE
FAST QUICK FOOD
FOOD

QUICK FAST
SHOWER SHOWER
 THEMATIC MEANING
 Thematic meaning refers to what is
communicated by the way in which a speaker
organizes the message in terms of ordering,
focus and emphasis.
 We can also say that the ways we order our
message also convey what is important what
not. This is basically thematic meaning
 EXAMPLE
 Thematic meaning is more concerned with active and passive
voice sentences
What did Mr. Smith donate.

Mr. Smith donated the 1st prize

The 1st prize was donated by Mr. Smith

Who donated the 1st prize

 Arrangement of communication components that determines
the point of emphasis is called thematic meaning.
 Examples

The cat drank the milk The milk was drunk by the cat

 Statements in active voice and

passive voice sentences have the
same conceptual meaning but
different communicative values.
  Alternative grammatical
construction
 George likes Indian street food most.
e.g
 It is the Indian street food George likes most.

 Substitution of words or lexemes.

e.g  My brother owns the largest hotel in the town.

 The largest hotel in town belongs to my
brother.
 REVIEW
HE MADE THE
MODEL IN THE
CLEAREST WAY
AND STUDIED THE
MEANING IN A
VERY BROAD WAY
AS HE BREAKS IT
DOWN INTO SEVEN
TYPES.
 REVIEW
Conceptual meaning Related to mental or imaginary ideas
Connotative meaning How a reader perceive the meaning of writer
Social meaning Social context of language use
Affective meaning Related to the feelings and attitude of speaker
Reflected meaning A word has multiple conceptual meaning
Collocative meaning Words that regularly appear together in common use
Thematic meaning How the order of the words spoken affect meaning
THANK
YOU