Speech is a sign system. The atom of speech is a sign that is studied in semantics. As a result of the study of the sign, two poles were identified: sign form and sign content. The sign content can be divided into denotation and signification.
Language is an abstraction of the world, so signs in language only refer to things. A denotation is a class of objects, which is indicated by a sign, a general, "ideal" type of object.
Significate is the representation of an object in the mind of a person, the meaning of a sign. The meaning of information (text, utterance, appeal) is determined by its denotative and significative content.
Designative and signified
Answering the question: "What is a denotation?", we can refer to the concept of de Saussure. He divided the sign into:
– denoting (the perceptual form of the sign is how the sign appears to a person, in what form);
– denoted (concept, meaning of the sign - what is embedded in the shape of the sign, in its appearance).
The denoting is the denotation, and the signified is the significat. Considering this with an example, thenby itself, a red sign with a line is a denotation. Its concept is prohibition, its meaning is always connected with the abstract concept of prohibition. This very idea of prohibition is a significat.
If we turn to the language, the sign is the word. Denotat - the form of the word (sound or letter), significat - the meaning of the word, socially shared (conventional) meaning.
Denotative and significative content
Denotative content is the explicit meaning of the text. Explicit meaning is formed from the concretization of denotations that occurs when they interact in one text.
Significant content is the implicit meaning of the text, it is not derived directly from the sum of words, but is implied. Significant content depends on:
- subjectivity of our perception;
- socio-cultural context;
- language specifics.
The denotation and connotations influence the signification. Connotations complement or accompany the denotation, they indicate what the subject is associated with (in a particular socio-cultural reality or for a particular person).
Symbols and signs
Connotations serve as a source of figurative word meanings, comparisons and metaphors. For example, among the connotations of the word "snake" there is "treachery, danger." In this regard, the expression "poisonous as a snake" is used.
Comparing denotation and connotation, we can say that denotation is a clear, literal meaning, connotation is an emotional, evaluative meaning. ATdepending on the language and culture, the same object can have different connotations, sometimes opposite ones.
In Europe, snakes are most often associated with evil. In China and Japan, snakes are given positive connotations.
| Denotation | Connotations |
| Home is the place where one lives | comfort, warmth, safety |
| Red rose flower | love, romance, passion |
| Apple is a fruit | sin, temptation |
The appearance of new associations and the disappearance of old ones illustrates the dependence of connotations on time. For example, an apple. Because of the Apple logo, it has become associated with the development of IT.
Connotations are the main problem of all those who study a foreign language. It is the connotations that determine the appropriateness of using a word in a particular context.
As an example, consider the words "cheap" and "inexpensive". In the dictionary, these words have a literal meaning - "low price". But cheap is translated as "cheap", has the same negative connotation in English as in Russian. The word "inexpensive" is neutral, an analogue of the Russian "inexpensive".
Types of significative connotations
Additional meanings of information depend on:
- associations associated with the denotation, which are determined by the era, ethnic group, social group, worldview;
- speaker relationship;
- style of speech;
- symbolic meaning of denotations.
For example, the symbolic meaning of denotation is used in heraldry. So, the lion traditionally symbolizes courage, nobility, power.
In many cultures there are such symbols, the meaning of which is easy to explain to a foreigner who is not familiar with them. For example, for the symbols of purity, the common color is white: a white dove, a white lily, a unicorn, a pearl, a lotus. White is associated with the pure, the pure. A large number of items that have nothing to do with luck have a symbolic meaning of good luck or the fulfillment of a wish: these are shooting stars and ladybugs, rabbit feet and horseshoes.
Classes
S. D. Katsnelson writes that the denotation is the scope of the concept, and the significat is the content. The scope of the concept is the class of objects corresponding to the word. The content of a concept is all those signs by which an object can be attributed to a certain class.
Denotation is not a specific object, not "Alena's red pencil", but a pencil in general. The literal definition of a word does not refer to a real object, it covers a whole class of objects.
Some objects exist in reality, others only in the imagination. The latter have an empty denotation. Examples of words that have an empty (fictitious) denotation: fairies, mermaids, fauns, etc.
Besides words with empty denotation, there are words with diffuse denotation. Thus, the concepts (freedom, equality, brotherhood) are difficult to find an unambiguous class, people argue about their literal definition.
According to the nature of the class,to which the sign refers, according to N. G. Komlev, the following types of denotations are distinguished:
- objects (hare's foot, snake, lion, pencil);
- concepts (properties of objects, qualities);
- language categories (noun, adjective, suffix);
- imaginary objects and creatures (unicorn, sphinx).
What the specialist sees
The concept of "denotation" is inextricably linked with the signification. Where is the significat hiding?
The easiest way to understand this is to imagine several groups of people having different experiences with the object. For example, a person playing a computer game and a game developer. For each of them, the denotation of the word "computer game" will be exactly the same (literal definition), it is the significat that will be different.
According to psychoanalysts, signification prevails over denotation. Therefore, for a person, the reflection of the object in his mind is more important than the literal definition of the object.
Sayings
What exactly are we talking about? Very often a person does not notice how much what he says corresponds to what he thinks (wants to say). When he receives a message, if he is prejudiced, he will not try to correct the significate by looking more closely at the denotation.
The significative meaning of the text depends on the structure of the text. The denotations in this case are exactly the same, the accent is different, which affects the overall meaning of the text.
Funds forcreating an accent:
1. Choice of words and choice of grammatical form. The choice of verbs often determines the connotations. The object associated with the verbs of activity, pressure and energy (he won), in the presentation becomes the cause of what is described in the sentence. "Experiential" verbs (she felt) testify to the presence of some stimulus acting on the object and causing its state.
Acting, not passive person, takes the main emotional load of the proposal. "The teacher who gave the student a deuce" - the center of the picture, in a sense, the villain. When "a student gets a D from a teacher", the focus shifts to the student and his inability to get a higher grade.
2. Sequence of words/ideas. The text is not perceived uniformly, the level of concentration of attention when getting acquainted with new information is not constant. When a person receives information in a continuous stream, the first words/ideas in the text are more important (the "primacy effect"), and they affect the meaning of the entire message.
CV
Denotation (translated from French - "to designate") and significat (translated from French - "to mean") are the two main elements of the sign. The sign refers not to the object itself, but to the representation of this object (concept).
The sign is conditional, so the language is not tied to specific objects of the material world, but operates with representations. Representations of objects change, it is enough to compare the idea of a car in people at the end of the 19th century andnow.
Views change, but words remain. The denotations remain unchanged for a long time.
Significant for a person has more weight than the literal definition of the word. The reflection of a denotation in a person's mind is a complex phenomenon that depends on the characteristics of communication (epoch, culture), on the structure of the message, on the worldview of the communicator and the recipient (the one who transmits and the one who receives the information).
