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Denotations and Connotations

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11 views2 pages

Denotations and Connotations

Uploaded by

onaleronakelly
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Denotation and connotation

Denotation
All words mean something, and the meaning that we find in the dictionary is known
as the denotative meaning.
Example: snake = a legless reptile Example: red = a colour
Connotation
Often a word will have associations or emotional ideas linked to it. These
associations will often not be found in a dictionary but will be made by a person
who hears or reads the word.
Example: snake = a cold or dangerous person
Example: red = danger (or romance, depending on who is seeing the colour)
this is important
When writers make a text they will choose the words very carefully. If they want to
influence the reader, to increase emotions, they can do this by choosing words that
have strong connotations.

Point of view
A good definition of point of view is the position from which something is
considered. Our point of view determines what we think about issues and the world
we live in. When we establish what the writer’s point of view is, we get insight into the
beliefs and attitudes the writer may have, and we can then look carefully at how
these beliefs are put into the text.
Bias and stereotyping in language
A stereotype is a simple or general image of a person. You can stereotype others
according to their sex, gender, age, race, culture, physical abilities, occupation,
political beliefs, economic class and country of origin.
A bias is a preference for or against a person or thing based on the stereotype you
have of the group of people or things to which they belong.
A prejudice is a belief based on your biased ideas and stereotypes about someone
that you have formed before you even know her or him. The prejudice is based on
the stereotype you have of the group to which this person belongs.
Often people are not even aware of their biases or prejudices and this is seen in their
speech and writing.
Word choice exposes bias and stereotyping
The words writers use expose their bias. For example, often writers use only the
masculine pronoun as though women did not exist at all. You can use him and her,
and she and he, for example. Alternatively you can use plural pronouns to avoid a
gender bias.
Example:
Scientists are working for the improvement of mankind. Note: Mankind excludes all
women, so the word humankind is preferred. Scientists are working for the
improvement of humankind.
Persuasive language
Language can be used to stir up emotions, to persuade or to manipulate people to
think or believe something. Advertisers and propagandists often used persuasive
language to achieve their goals. Critical Language Awareness helps us to become
aware of this,
Persuasive language techniques
• Word choice. Pay attention to the connotation of words, the number of adjectives
used, and the pronouns that have been used to include (we, us) and exclude (they,
them).
• Rhetorical questions are questions that have no real answer and for which the
questioner does not expect a response. Rhetorical questions are effective because
they encourage the reader or listener to think about the answer.
Example: “How many times must you be told to study hard?” asked the principal at
the assembly after the exams.
• Imagery is used to create pictures in our minds about what the speaker or writer
wants us to see and believe. This is achieved through the use of adjectives, word-
pictures and figurative language (especially to create comparisons).
Example:
“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they
will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character.” Dr
Martin Luther King Jr (The image of a different world is created.)
• Repetition allows the speaker or writer to reinforce the message. In his famous “I
have a dream’ speech, Dr Martin Luther King Jr repeats the phrase “I have a dream”
eight times, the word “free” five times and “freedom” nineteen times in only 1666
words.
• The agentless passive allows the speaker or writer to suggest things without there
being any active agent responsible. (See Section 4 Language Structures and
conventions for more on the active and passive voice)
Example:
We have been put under pressure. (By whom?) If the writer or speaker does not say,
we are left to come to our own answers which will have been prompted by the
speaker or writer in the first place. Furthermore, this allows us to feel like victims.)
Emotive language
Emotive language is language that has been deliberately structured to create
emotions in the reader. Poets use emotive language to ensure that their poetry is
vivid and interesting. Advertisers and politicians use emotive language to lead us to
believe what they want us to believe. Emotive language uses a number of techniques
that you have already examined in the sections on figures of speech, bias and
prejudice, and persuasive language.

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