Denotation and connotation

1
Denotation and connotation

• denotation and connotation are used to different
  types of value that we attribute to words.

2
denotation

• Denotative is the term used to describe the way
  lexical items refer to a referent in the real
  world whether it be a concrete thing or an
  abstract concept.
• However, the denotative term often only covers
  the core prototype meaning, i.e., the typical
  example of an entity that is referred to, ad
  presenting only its typical characteristics of
  that entity. Such words can often assume a
  connotative value depending on the context in
  which they are used. This connotative meaning may
  be metaphorical, figurative, take the form of
  metonymies, or be deliberately ambiguous, as in
  the case of puns.
• Taylor gives the example the word rat. (p.85)
  to illustrate the range of connotation of a
  simple concrete noun, and the need to define the
  value of certain connotations in order to match
  them accurately.
• This shows how essential it is for translators
  to understand the connotations of lexical items
  or expressions.

3
Semantic prosody

• The term semantic prosody was coined by the
  corpus linguist John Sinclair to refer to the way
  seemingly neutral words can carry negative or
  positive associations in frequently occurring
  collocations.
• Sinclair gives the examples of true feelings
  and shows how this is usually assumes a negative
  semantic prosody of difficulty or concealing
  scared, reluctant to show his true feelings.
• Another example offered by Sinclair is the
  unusual verb brook, which is a synonym for
  tolerate. But as a synonym it is always
  negative, and expresses intolerance of the
  intrusive behaviour of another, usually at a
  future date, and is often associated with a
  threat or warning
• e.g. I will brook no interference
• Taylor examines the semantic prosody of the word
  routine. )p.86)

4
Political Correctness

• Political correctness is a a direct practical
  response to the connotations of words.
• Political correctness is the avoidance of certain
  words or expressions on the grounds that they are
  offensive to certain groups because of the
  unacceptable connotations such words have come
  to have for those groups or the individuals that
  identify with them.
• At times the search for alternatives can be so
  exaggerated or deliberately euphemistic as to
  actually be equally offensive by parodying
  political correctness itself, as some recent and
  notorious examples have shown.

5
Sensitive areas gender

• Gender is an increasingly sensitive issue in
  Anglo-Saxon culture, reflecting as it does the
  attempt to fight inequality and discrimination
  within the culture, as is reflected in the
  widespread use of twinning (he/she s/he). This
  can become tedious and stilted, so one solution
  is to pluralise the referent and subsequent
  pronouns, or dispensing with pronouns
• e.g. the translator must be careful when he
  translates connotational meaning
• translators must be careful when they translate
  connotational meaning,
• the translator must be careful when translating
  connotational meaning. (Taylor p.87)
• Another aspect of this issue is the way in which
  female nouns are, e.g., neutralised
  manageress/ manager.

6
Political correctness refernces to differently
abled people

• physically and mentally challenged categories
• When denoting these categories there is a
  preference for words with a ore positive
  connotation than traditional ones, which often
  have negative connotations.
• Translators must guard against anachronistic and
  politically incorrect renderings, which involve
  words that have become taboo in either the source
  text of target text..

7
Political correctness race

• Fewer areas of life are as sensitive as the
  question of race, and when choosing the
  politically correct denotative term, translators
  must be intensely aware of the possible negative
  connotations of their solutions, using where
  appropriate (that is when they are not
  translating subjective, or historical texts or
  fiction which might well contain utterances all
  of which are politically incorrect by modern
  standards, but have to be rendered in undiluted
  form).
• One of the problems in translating texts where
  race is an issue is that the politically correct
  form in one culture may be regarded as
  unacceptably patronising and therefore
  politically incorrect in another.
• For example the Italian persona di colore
  (current until quite recently ) could quiet
  possibly be translated as coloured person in
  British or American English, and this would be
  regarded as offensive and a denial of dignity, in
  cultures where ethnic origin is normally made
  explicit and linked to nationality as in African
  American.
• This is also an example of how what might be
  called a less euphemistic and potentially
  offensive option, such as black, is regarded as
  the more correct and dignified. This may be
  because the more blunt term has connotations of
  honesty and even pride and assertion, while the
  euphemism seems to imply a shameful condition,
  precisely because it refuses to name it openly.
• Sometimes one culture is faster to respond to the
  political aspects of a connotation, only to take
  the new denotation on board, after a time lag.
  This seems to be the case with di colore which
  is increasingly giving way to nero in Italian
  journalism.