Explain how connotations of a word affect its literal meaning?

Question

Explain how connotations of a word affect its literal meaning?

B. explain the difference between individual connotations and cultural connotations


C. explain how the connaotationd of a word determine its effectiveness in speech and writing

Answer 1

Affect the way I most usually talk about it is a psychological term describing one's "affect" or emotive behavior---tone, facial expression etc. It's kind of mood/behavior defining. "He had a reserved affect." Some teachers teach toward affect, which is how to behave and relate to other individuals. The studies on EQ actually suggest that this helps academic and social success.

Affect as the verb ..if you go to the Gregg's reference manual...means to influence change where as effect actually bring it about. Affect is not as causal effect.

Answer 2

This is classified under the wrong category. It should have been under Word and word play. Anyway, here goes. Connotations refer to the emotive and associative meaning of a word, a meaning usually stemming from both a personal or cultural experience. It is the meaning we project on to words. Denotation refers to the direct relationship between a word and the objective idea or action it designates. It is the literal or dictionary meaning of the word.

As a writer, you want to choose words that are denotatively or connotatively appropriate. Words with similar denotations may have connotations that vary widely. Skilled writers and readers are sensitive to the power of both denotation and especially the connotation for many reasons: 1) we do not want to be misunderstood. Calling someone skinny rather than slender for instance, might be taken as an insult or a joke when such meaning was unintended. 2) Because connotations play an impt part in the language of politics and advertising, being alert to connotations and its power can help us read and listen more critically. Connotations can evoke emotions, imagery and feelings and sentiments.

For instance, dense vegetation and jungle are synonyms because they have the same denotation: They could refer to the same geographical location in Africa, Asia, South America, or Mexico.

However, their connotations differ sharply. Dense vegetation is almost devoid of connotations, isn’t it? This word sounds impersonal enough to appear in a science journal. However, jungle evokes images of leopards, boa constrictors, oppressive heat and choking humidity, of thin paths halted by towering elephant grass, and bright even lush colors—reds, greens, yellows—alternating with malevolent darkness. Compare the effect of “His mind is like dense vegetation” with that of “His mind is like a jungle.” Or even “The explorers hacked their way through the dense vegetation” with “The explorers hacked their way through the jungle.”

The difference is this: what kind of image does dense vegetation evoke? While jungle evokes images of menacing wildness, of dangerous adventure, dense vegetation just doesn’t do much.

The important distinction between denotations and connotations is that words play such a critical role in argument that they deserve special attention. As writers and readers, we can point out instances of where and how words influence the feelings and attitudes of an audience, both favorably and unfavorably.

The power of words are greatly demonstrated in the following instances: to incite riots, and protests; cultural diversity, ally, and bias. Just imagine the connotation of the disparaging word, ******. What we speak, write , read or hear carry important messages.


Another classic example is the word rat. The denotation is that of a rodent or creature. However, the connotation could be that of a selfish person, evildoer, traitor or a fink. To call somebody a rat is indeed very derogatory and effectively, degrading.

Answer 3

Are you serious? The bible is God's word or whatever and if you're saying "well don't just read that cause it won't make sense read the scholar's writing too" then you're saying the bible won't make sense and you shouldn't have to read any scholar's writing's to understand the bible. The bible is supposed to be the words to live by and if you need to further understand it with scholars writing's then you know in your heart the bible is pure crap.