Connotation Versus Denotation
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Michelle Alejo CortezConnotation Versus Denotation
Uploaded by
Michelle Alejo CortezConnotation vs.
Denotation
How do we assign words meaning?
SWBAT
Define connotation and denotation
Read a sentence and determine if
the wording is connotative or
denotative
Connotation and Denotation
Connotation is the Denotation is the
emotional and strict dictionary
imaginative meaning of a word.
association
surrounding a
word.
“You may live in a house, but we live
in a home.”
If you were to look up However, the speaker
the words house and in the sentence above
home in a dictionary, suggests that home has
you would find that an additional meaning.
both words have
approximately the home
same meaning- "a
dwelling place."
house
Connotation and denotation love
Aside from the strict
dictionary definition, or comfort
denotation, many
people associate such
things as comfort, love,
security, or privacy with security
a home but do not
HOME
necessarily make the
same associations with a
house. privacy
security
Questions to brainstorm….
What is the first thing Why do you think that
that comes to your mind real-estate advertisers
when you think of: use the word home more
a home? frequently than house?
of a house?
Connotation
The various feelings,
images, and memories
that surround a word
make up its
connotation.
Although both house
and home have the same
denotation, or dictionary
meaning, home also has
many connotations
“I know what you said, but what did you
mean?”
A word's denotation is A word's connotation is
its literal definition. For all the association we
example: have with it. For
Snake: a limbless example:
reptile with a long, scaly "Snake in the grass," the
body biblical serpent, the
danger of poisonous
snakes, our own fear of
snakes or a malevolent
(evil, bad) person might
be called "a real snake"
Who is hearing the word?
Connotation can * A plumber might
depend on the person immediately think of a
who hears the word and plumbing tool called a
brings his or her own snake.
associations to it. *A biologist might think
of the rare Indigo Snake
he felt lucky to see the
past weekend.
Shades of meaning…
Some words, though, have shades of meaning that are
commonly recognized.
While "serpent" is literally a snake, the word "serpent"
is usually associated with evil.
In today's society, "politician" has somewhat negative
associations, while "statesman" sounds more positive.
Use it in a sentence.
You will answer ten questions while viewing the
upcoming slides.
Read the following sentences.
Annette was surprised.
Annette was amazed.
Annette was astonished.
1. What is the general meaning of each of the three
sentences about Annette? Do the words surprised,
amazed, and astonished have approximately the same
denotation?
Use it in a sentence.
2. What additional meanings are suggested by
astonish? Would one be more likely to be surprised or
astonished at seeing a ghost?
“I was surprised to see
a ghost.”
“I was amazed to see a
ghost.”
“I was astonished to see
a ghost.”
Compare some words.
Write these examples in your daybook along with your
answers
3. Which word in each pair below has the more
favorable connotation to you?
thrifty-penny-pinching
pushy-aggressive
politician-statesman
chef-cook
slender-skinny
Read it in text.
Since everyone reacts cock roach (kok' roch'),
emotionally to certain n. any of an order of
words, writers often nocturnal insects,
deliberately select words usually brown with
that they think will flattened oval bodies,
influence your reactions some species of which
and appeal to your are household pests
emotions. Read the inhabiting kitchens,
dictionary definition areas around water
below. pipes, etc. [Spanish
cucaracha]
A cockroach? See what meanings
poets Wild and Morley
4. What does the word
find in roaches in the
cockroach mean to following poems.
you?
5. Is a cockroach
merely an insect or is
it also a household
nuisance and a
disgusting creature?
Roaches
breeding quickly and without design,
Last night when I got up laboring up drainpipes through filth
to let the dog out I spied to the light;
a cockroach in the bathroom I read once they are among
crouched flat on the cool the most antediluvian of creatures,
porcelain, surviving everything, and in more
delicate primitive times
antennae probing the toothpaste capthrived to the size of your hand...
and feasting himself on a gob yet when sinking asleep
of it in the bowl: or craning at the stars,
I killed him with one unprofessionalI can feel their light feet
blow, probing in my veins,
scattering arms and legs their whiskers nibbling
and half his body in the sink... the insides of my toes;
I would have no truck with and neck arched,
roaches, feel their patient scrambling
crouched like lions in the ledges up the dark tubes of my throat.
of sewers
their black eyes in the darkness ---Peter Wild
from Nursery Rhymes for the
Tender-hearted How delightful to suspect
Scuttle, scuttle, little roach- All the places you have
How you run when I approach: trekked:
Up above the pantry shelf Does your long antenna whisk
Hastening to secrete yourself. its
Gentle tip across the biscuits?
Most adventurous of vermin, Do you linger, little soul,
How I wish I could determine Drowsing in our sugar bowl?
How you spend your hours of Or, abandonment most utter,
ease, Shake a shimmy on the butter?
Perhaps reclining on the cheese. Do you chant your simple
tunes
Cook has gone, and all is dark- Swimming in the baby's
Then the kitchen is your park; prunes?
In the garbage heap that she Then, when dawn comes, do
leaves you slink
Do you browse among the tea Homeward to the kitchen sink?
leaves? Timid roach, why--Christopher
be so shy?
We are brothers, thou and I,
Morley
Reading into the poems…
Reread the dictionary 6. Which of the
definition. denotative
cock roach (kok' roch'), n. characteristics of a
any of an order of cockroach do both poets
nocturnal insects, usually include in the poems?
brown with flattened oval
bodies, some species of
which are household
pests inhabiting kitchens,
areas around water pipes,
etc.
Reading into the poems…
7. What 8. What additional
characteristics does characteristics does
Wild give his Morley give to
roaches that are not roaches?
in the dictionary
definition?
Reading into the poems…
In each poem, the 9. Which poet
insect acquires succeeds in giving
meaning beyond its roaches favorable
dictionary definition. connotations?
Both poets lead us
away from a literal 10. Which poet comes
view of roaches to a
closer to expressing
nonliteral one.
your own feelings
about roaches?
More practice…..
Directions: For these conditions, first think of a word with a
positive connotation, and then think of a word with a negative
connotation.
Condition Positive Connotation Negative
Connotation
1. Overweight
2. Short
3. Not smart
4. Unattractive
5. Non-athletic
6. Self-focused