Connotation (semiotics) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Semiotics

Semiotics, also called semiotic studies or semiology, is the study of signs and sign processes , indication, designation, likeness, analogy, metaphor, symbolism, signification, and communication...

, connotation arises when the denotative

Denotation (semiotics)

In semiotics, denotation is the surface or literal meaning encoded to a signifier, and the definition most likely to appear in a dictionary.-Discussion :Drawing from the original word or definition proposed by Saussure , a sign has two parts:...

relationship between a signifier and its signified is inadequate to serve the needs of the community

Community

The term community has two distinct meanings:*a group of interacting people, possibly living in close proximity, and often refers to a group that shares some common values, and is attributed with social cohesion within a shared geographical location, generally in social units larger than a household...

. A second level of meaning

Meaning (semiotics)

In semiotics, the meaning of a sign is its place in a sign relation, in other words, the set of roles that it occupies within a given sign relation. This statement holds whether sign is taken to mean a sign type or a sign token...

s is termed connotative. These meanings are not objective

Object (philosophy)

An object in philosophy is a technical term often used in contrast to the term subject. Consciousness is a state of cognition that includes the subject, which can never be doubted as only it can be the one who doubts, and some object or objects that may or may not have real existence without...

representations of the thing, but new usages produced by the language group.

Discussion

Drawing from the original definition proposed by Saussure

Ferdinand de Saussure

Ferdinand de Saussure was a Swiss linguist whose ideas laid a foundation for many significant developments in linguistics in the 20th century. He is widely considered one of the fathers of 20th-century linguistics...

(1857-1913), a sign

Sign (semiotics)

A sign is understood as a discrete unit of meaning in semiotics. It is defined as "something that stands for something, to someone in some capacity" It includes words, images, gestures, scents, tastes, textures, sounds – essentially all of the ways in which information can be...

has two parts:

as a signifier, i.e. it will have a form that a person can see, touch, smell, and/or hear, and
as the signified, i.e. it will represent an idea or mental construct of a thing rather than the thing itself.

Connotative meanings are developed by the community and do not represent the inherent qualities of the thing or concept

Concept

The word concept is used in ordinary language as well as in almost all academic disciplines. Particularly in philosophy, psychology and cognitive sciences the term is much used and much discussed. WordNet defines concept: "conception, construct ". However, the meaning of the term concept is much...

originally signified as the meaning. The addition of such meanings introduces complexity into the coding

Code (semiotics)

In semiotics, a code is a set of conventions or sub-codes currently in use to communicate meaning. The most common is one's spoken language, but the term can also be used to refer to any narrative form: consider the color scheme of an image , or the rules of a board game In semiotics, a code is a...

system. If a signifier has only a single denotational meaning, the use of the sign will always be unambiguously decoded by the audience

Audience

An audience is a group of people who participate in a show or encounter a work of art, literature , theatre, music or academics in any medium...

. But connotative meanings are context-dependent, i.e. the addressee must learn how to match the meaning intended by the addresser to one of the various possible meanings held in memory

Memory

In psychology, memory is an organism's ability to store, retain, and recall information and experiences. Traditional studies of memory began in the fields of philosophy, including techniques of artificially enhancing memory....

.

The power of connotation is that it enables the addresser to more easily consider abstract

Abstraction

Abstraction is a process by which higher concepts are derived from the usage and classification of literal concepts, first principles, or other methods....

concepts and to introduce subtlety into the discourse

Discourse

Discourse generally refers to "written or spoken communication". The following are three more specific definitions:...

. For example, a digital thermometer

Thermometer

Developed during the 16th and 17th centuries, a thermometer is a device that measures temperature or temperature gradient using a variety of different principles. A thermometer has two important elements: the temperature sensor Developed during the 16th and 17th centuries, a thermometer (from the...

produces a numerical value that indicates the current state of a specific operational parameter. This technology provides an indexical sign of heat

Heat

In physics and thermodynamics, heat is energy transferred from one body, region, or thermodynamic system to another due to thermal contact or thermal radiation when the systems are at different temperatures. It is often described as one of the fundamental processes of energy transfer between...

(adopting the classification of Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914), an indexical sign by actual connection between the signifier and the signified). The number is a denotative value, i.e. it speaks only for itself. The doctor, nurse or patient will relate to the number as a visual trope, in this case a metaphor

Metaphor

A metaphor is a literary figure of speech that uses an image, story or tangible thing to represent a less tangible thing or some intangible quality or idea; e.g., "Her eyes were glistening jewels." Metaphor may also be used for any rhetorical figures of speech that achieve their effects via...

, for the health of the body. Such information

Information

Information in its most restricted technical sense is a message or collection of messages that consists of an ordered sequence of symbols, or it is the meaning that can be interpreted from such a message or collection of messages. Information can be recorded or transmitted. It can be recorded as...

adds to other data

Data

The term data refers to qualitative or quantitative attributes of a variable or set of variables. Data are typically the results of measurements and can be the basis of graphs, images, or observations of a set of variables. Data are often viewed as the lowest level of abstraction from which...

forming a symptomology for the patient, a summation that takes place at a connotative cognitive level. Hence, the meanings as to health or illness are selected from the connotational framework which the interpreter has constructed through training and experience given that each possible state of well-being is represented by a cluster of symbol

Symbol

A symbol is something which represents an idea, a physical entity or a process but is distinct from it. The purpose of a symbol is to communicate meaning. For example, a red octagon may be a symbol for "STOP". On a map, a picture of a tent might represent a campsite. Numerals are symbols for...

ic attributes, one of which is the patient's temperature.

Connotation is concerned with how the sign system is used in each message. The semantic content is selected by the addresser and represents that individual's values

Value (semiotics)

In semiotics, the value of a sign depends on its position and relations in the system of signification and upon the particular codes being used.-Saussure's Value:Value is the sign as it is determined by the other signs in a semiotic system...

and intentions. Limiting an analysis purely to the sign system comprised by paradigm

Paradigm

The word paradigm has been used in science to describe distinct concepts. It comes from Greek "παράδειγμα" , "pattern, example, sample" from the verb "παραδείκνυμι" , "exhibit, represent, expose" and that from "παρά" , "beside, beyond" + "δείκνυμι" , "to show, to point out".The original Greek...

s and syntagms excludes key elements in the interpretive process. Thus, subjective

Subject (philosophy)

In philosophy, a subject is a being that has subjective experiences, subjective consciousness or a relationship with another entity . A subject is an observer and an object is a thing observed...

tests such as the commutation test

Commutation test (semiotics)

In semiotics, the commutation test is used to analyze a signifying system. The test identifies signifiers as well as their signifieds, value and significance.-The commutation test:...

have been developed to map connotations and so decode more of the addresser's intentions. This is achieved by changing the form of the signifiers, by substituting signifiers to assess what the alternative connotations would be and by considering what signifiers are absent and why their absences might be significant. Changes of form would require substituting different font

Typeface

In typography, a typeface is the artistic representation or interpretation of characters; it is the way the type looks. Each type is designed and there are thousands of different typefaces in existence, with new ones being developed constantly....

s for the same text, or different colours or designs for the same visual content. The use of synonym

Synonym

Synonyms are different words with almost identical or similar meanings. Words that are synonyms are said to be synonymous, and the state of being a synonym is called synonymy. The word comes from Ancient Greek syn and onoma . The words car and automobile are synonyms...

s and antonym

Antonym

In lexical semantics, opposites are words that lie in an inherently incompatible binary relationship as in the opposite pairs male : female, long : short, up : down, and precede : follow. The notion of incompatibility here refers to the fact that one word in an opposite pair entails that it is not...

s clarifies connotational choices as between, say, pejorative

Pejorative

Pejoratives , including name slurs, are words or grammatical forms that connote negativity and express contempt or distaste. A term can be regarded as pejorative in some social groups but not in others, e.g., hacker is a term used for computer criminals as well as quick and clever computer experts...

and euphemistic usages. As to absences, if a modern image of a group of people employed in a major public enterprise only contains individuals of the same gender and ethnicity, the analyst would enquire into the significance of the exclusion of those of the opposite gender and a different ethnicity. The editorial decision may be supporting social values, attitudes and beliefs that are embedded into the culture---for example, that it is not appropriate for women to act as front-line soldiers in war. Other explanations of different contexts may expose cultural myth

Mythology

The term mythology can refer either to the study of myths, or to a body or collection of myths. As examples, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece...

s and prejudice

Prejudice

Prejudice is making a judgment or assumption about someone or something before having enough knowledge to be able to do so with guaranteed accuracy, or "judging a book by its cover"...

s which are less reasonable.

Discussion

Further reading