What is Connotation:
Connotation refers to associated, expressive or additional meaning that a word or phrase has depending on the context.
That is, when the connotation of a word or phrase is indicated it is to indicate its secondary meaning in a certain contextwhich generally indicates a broader sense of the textual.
Connotation is also the action and effect of connotingwhich is to refer to the complementary or subjective meaning of a word or expression.
Making use of the connotation of words is very common in the area of literature, especially because ideas or situations are expressed and even subjects are presented tacitly so that the reader or interpreter of the text can understand and contextualize easily.
For example, “That woman is an angel.” In this case, a woman is connoted as being a good, charitable person in whom she can have a certain degree of trust.
The meaning of the expression “is an angel” cannot be taken literally, it is simply a way of expressing and exposing a characteristic of that subject.
It is also very common to use the connotation of words or phrases as a resource in everyday life through the communication of people and the media, through which extensive use is made of this resource to send massive messages, generally, through advertising campaigns.
In advertising texts they usually use connotative language with the intention of persuading the public and making people want the product or service they are advertising.
To do this, advertising campaigns support their textual content or dialogues with images, sounds and even models, which seduce the public’s mind.
Connotation and denotation
Connotation and denotation are two meanings that come before each other and are therefore antonyms.
If the connotation refers to the double meaning or secondary meaning that words or phrases have depending on the context, then, for its part, denotation is the main or objective meaning of a word which is recognized by all people.
For example, “The price of gold remains stable in the world market.” In this case, gold is a precious metal, whose meaning or denotation indicates exactly the same as its main and objective meaning, therefore it is not necessary to investigate a secondary meaning.
However, it can be stated that a high percentage of words, in general, have a denotative meaning that is complemented or enriched by their connotative meaning.
In this case, a broad and rich vocabulary of meaning and use is presented that is then analyzed and studied in the field of linguistics.
Next, the same word from the previous example “gold” is taken to present an example of how its meaning can vary through a connotative use of the word.
For example, “Your friendship is worth gold.” In this case, the meaning of the word gold is no longer used in a denotative way and due to context and connotation, it is understood that it is referring to a friendship that is highly appreciated and that is worth much more than anything else.
See also the meaning of Context.