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Denotation and connotation

The denotation of a word or phrase is its explicit or direct meaning. Another way to think of it is as the associations that a word usually elicits for most speakers of a language, as distinguished from those elicited for any individual speaker because of personal experience.

The connotation of a word or phrase is the associated or secondary meaning; it can be something suggested or implied by a word or thing, rather than being explicitly named or described.


 

Example :

          

The denotation of this example is a red rose with a green stem. The connotation is that it is a symbol of passion and love – this is what the rose represents.

The denotation is a brown cross. The connotation is a symbol of religion, according to the media connotation. However, to be more specific this is a symbol of Christianity.

• Pants versus trousers: In American English, pants and trousers have the same denotation. They both refer to the clothing that one wears on one’s legs. However, “trousers” sound like a much more formal item of clothing than “pants” (note that in British English “pants” actually refers to underwear and therefore has a different denotation than trousers).
• Boss versus leader: While “boss” is not necessarily negative it still separates this person more definitively from his or her underlings than the word “leader.” “Leader” generally sounds more inspiring. Compare also the difference between “bossy” and “demanding.” Neither sounds particularly appealing, but “bossy” connotes more of an attitude that someone tells others what to do without reason, whereas a “demanding” person asks much of others but for a good reason.
• Burden versus obligation: Both “burden” and “obligation” refer to something that a person must do. However, a burden is more onerous. A burden makes life difficult for the person who shoulders it, while an obligation may be simply what a person is required to do without resenting it.

Examples of Denotation in Literature

Example #1

O that this too too solid flesh would melt,
Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew!
Or that the Everlasting had not fix’d
His canon ’gainst self-slaughter! O God! O God!

This famous quote from William Shakespeare’s tragedy shows Hamlet contemplating suicide for the first time. We know this from the word “self-slaughter,” yet Shakespeare starts the monologue with a more poetic phrasing of the concept. Hamlet speaks of a wish that “this too too solid flesh would melt.” The denotations of the words in this line don’t quite add up—flesh is not liquid and therefore cannot melt. This is a case in which the reader’s ability to understand the difference between the denotations and connotations of the words used leads to a new metaphorical way of thinking about death.

Example #2

“Mother,” said little Pearl, “the sunshine does not love you. It runs away and hides itself, because it is afraid of something on your bosom. . . . It will not flee from me, for I wear nothing on my bosom yet!”
“Nor ever will, my child, I hope,” said Hester.
“And why not, mother?” asked Pearl, stopping short. . . . “Will it not come of its own accord, when I am a woman grown?”
(The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne)
In this example of denotation, Hester Prynne’s daughter Pearl speaks about her “bosom.” Pearl is literally referring to the place on her mother’s dress where she must wear the scarlet letter A for “adulteress.” However, the connotation of the word “bosom” and their subsequent discussion also has a subtler and deeper meaning about the impossibility of women in that culture to not be shamed for becoming sexual beings.

Positive and Negative Connotations

Words may have positive or negative connotations that depend upon the social, cultural and personal experiences of individuals. For example, the words childish, childlike and youthful have the same denotative but different connotative meanings. Childish and childlike have a negative connotation as they refer to immature behavior of a person. Whereas, youthful implies that a person is lively and energetic.

Contoh kalimat :

“Jika matahari bersinar maka udara terasa hangat”