REFERENCE, DENOTATION, AND CONNOTATION
(A STUDY of SEMANTIC)

This paper is arranged to fulfill the assignment of SEMANTIC
Lecturer: Kurniawan, M.Hum

Arranged by:
Novi Dyah Ayu Sri M : 26.09.6.2.124
Rifqi Syafiatul Hidayah : 26.09.6.2.140
Sayekti Pujilestari : 26.09.6.2.147

ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTEMENT
INSTITUTE OF ISLAMIC COLLEGE
SURAKARTA
2012
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION

A. Introduction
Arcnoff and Miller (2003:370) says that semantics focuses on theories of meaning which apply to sentences that make statements, and are taken to be either true are false. This assumption shows that there is relationship between linguistic expression and the world which is at the core of linguistic meaning. By contrast with most other work in semantics, the functional-systemic linguistics of Halliday (1967, 1977, and 1978) recognizes not only ideational and interpersonal meaning, but also textual meaning. It associates various sorts of meaning with choices made all along the way in the production of a sentence in a text.
Geoffrey Leech in his ‘Semantic- A Study of meaning’ (1974) breaks down meaning into seven types or ingredients giving primacy to conceptual meaning. The Seven types of meaning according to Leech are as follows: Conceptual or Denotative Meaning, Connotative Meaning, Social Meaning, Affective or Emotive Meaning, Reflected Meaning, Thematic Meaning.
Almost all of the words of a language have a conceptual meaning. There are words that have more than one conceptual meaning. There are also words that have connotative meaning, social meaning, and affective meaning. This chapter presents the different meaning that words have. In this paper, we want to explain about reference, denotation, and connotation.

CHAPTER II
DISCUSSION

A. Definition Reference, Denotation and Connotation a. Reference * Reference is the relation between a language expression such as this door, both doors, the dog, another dog and whatever the expression pertains to in a particular situation of language use, including what a speaker may imagine. According to Palmer (1976:30) “reference deals with the relationship between the linguistics elements, words, sentences, etc, and on linguistic world of experience”.
In semantics, reference is generally construed as the relationships between nouns or pronouns and objects that are named by them. Hence, the word "John" refers to John. The word "it" refers to some previously specified object. The object referred to is called the "referent" of the word.
To be sure, it is easier to form a mental picture for some words DOOR and DOG for example. What mental image do you form for DOOR? A revolving door? A folding door? A sliding door, moving horizontally? An overhead door which moves vertically? A door turning on hinges? Is it in a wall, or on a cabinet, or part of a car? Is your image associated with DOG that of a St Bernard or a Pekingese, a mongrel or an Irish Setter?
You can picture all of these in sequence but not simultaneously. Clearly the meaning of door or dog is more than what is included in a single image, and your knowledge of these words is much more than the ability to relate them to single objects. You can use these words successfully in a large number of situations because you have the knowledge that makes this possible. Just as we distinguished between ‘utterance’ and ‘sentence,’ we need to draw a distinction between reference and denotation.

* The use of words/phrases to pick out something in the world. There are several possibilities of referent such as: Referent can be an entity, like: a thing, a person or an animal | * Doctor * House * Puppy | * Animate, human, male or female, having been, trained in medical science * Inanimate, building, with rooms, made for a family to life in * Animate, animal, mammal, vertebrate, dog, young | Referent can be a psychological power | * Tollerance * Intelelligence | * The power to endure without protest * The power of seeing, learning, understanding and knowing | Referent can be event | * Party * Earthquake | * An event of gathering a person by invitation for pleassure * An event of suddent violence, shaking, of the earth’s surface | Referent can be situation or time | * Season * Watch | * Time suitable or normal for something * Time of wakefulness in the night | Referent can be state | * Clean * Happy | * A state of beeing free from dirt * A state of feeling pleassure | Referent can be action | * Kill * Sing | * An action that causes the death of an animate beeing * An action of making musical sound with a voince | Referent can be process | * Heating * Raining | * A process of becoming hot * The process of water falling from cloud | Referent can be psychological experience | * Know * Remember | * Have in mind as the result of experiences or being informed or because want has learnt * Call back to mind the memory of | Referent can be manner | * Clearly * Softly | * In a clear manner * In a soft manner | Referent can be location | * On * Above | * In position of inclution within space or place or limit * In position of higher |

b. Denotation ( Cognitive Meaning) * Definition:
Denotation is the entities, actions, or qualities in the word picked out by words or phrases. The denotative definition of a word that might be found in a dictionary.
Denotation is the specific idea or concept that a word or lexeme refers to. Another way of putting it is, a word's denotation is its primary or literal significance, whereas connotation is the range of secondary significance which a word commonly suggests. Denotation is the strict dictionary meaning of a word. Connotation is the emotional and imaginative association surrounding a word. Denotation and connotation are both important in order to determine word meaning in a given context. Dictionaries are more concerned with denotations than connotations.
In other hand, denotation represents the explicit or referential meaning of a sign. Denotation refers to the literal meaning of a word; the “dictionary definition”. According to Longman (2005: 1564), denotation refers to the literal meaning of a word, the “dictionary definition”. For example, if we look up the word snake in a dictionary, we will discover that one of its denotative meanings is “an animal with a long thin body and no legs that often has a poisonous bite”.

* Example 1 : “rose” in denotation context is a flower or red rose with a green stem. * Example 2 : “snake” denotative meanings is "any of numerous scaly, legless, sometimes venomous reptiles having a long, tapering, cylindrical body and found in most tropical and temperate regions." * Example 3 : hi, your eye is beautiful (“eye” it means that true sense)

c. Connotation (Emotional Meaning) * Definition:
The connotative meaning is the secondary meaning of a word or phrase. According to Harimurti (1982:91) “aspects of the meaning of a word or group based on feelings or thoughts that arising or incurred in the speaker (writer) and listener (reader)”.
Connotation is the suggestive meaning of a word all the values, judgments, and meaning implied by a word, the historical and associative accretion of “unspoken significance" behind the literal meaning. Many words have evaluative implications behind them, and convey a positive or negative attitude toward the things they name; this flavor of the word or its overtone of meaning whether it makes you feel like smiling, sneering, kissing, conquering, or giving up is the word's connotation. We might say it is the emotional meaning of the word because generally, Connotation represents the various social overtones, cultural implications, or emotional meanings. This meaning is seldom found in the dictionary.
The connotative meaning of a word is based on implication, or shared emotional association with a word. For example; Greasy is a completely innocent word: Some things, like car engines, need to be greasy. But greasy contains negative associations for most people, whether they are talking about food or about people. Often there are many words that denote approximately the same thing, but their connotations are very different.
Sometimes two or more words will have the same or almost the same denotative definition, but will have very different connotations. How does your response to each of these words differ from those it is paired with? Which seem positive, which seem negative, and which seem neutral? As you read each list, try to focus in your mind a single object or person, and see how changing the word changes your perception or image of the thing.
Connotation is often a product of context. Depending on how it is used, a word might have a positive, neutral, or negative connotation to it. Note this variability in these paired examples:
• Sandy is so scrawny (Negative connotation)
• Sandy is very slender. (Positive connotation)
• The pastor preached yesterday. (Neutral connotation)
• Joe preached at me about book buying. (Negative connotation)
Many words do have personal connotations for each individual. The feelings or images evoked by the word "cemetery," for example, depend upon your experiences--the cemeteries you have visited, whether you have buried a loved one, and so on. But generally we mean by connotation the common suggestive meaning or evaluative sense, shared and understood by all educated users of the language. Connotation is not the slang meaning of a word, though, of course, slang meanings can affect connotations.
Connotative meaning refers to what is communicated by virtue of what language refers to. In other words, it is the meaning above the conceptual meaning and it may vary according to culture, background or society. Thus, connotative meaning can be subjective or unstable. It depends very much on how an individual or society perceives a word. It is the association that we make in our mind of what these lexical items represent.

* Example 1 : “rose” in connotation context is Connotation is a symbol. May be symbol of love, respect, condolence and etc. * Example 2 : “snake” The connotations for the word snake could include evil or danger. * Example 3 : Angel is one of the cravings for money girl. (“the craving for money” it means that false sense)

B. Relationship between Reference and Denotation
By Ogden and Richards (1923), who developed a mentalistic theory about meaning, an attempt to explain meaning in terms of what is in people’s minds. Their explanation centers around this scheme:
Concept

Word object
Ogden and Richards called the bond between word and concept an ‘association,’ the bond between concept and object ‘reference,’ and the bond between object and word ‘meaning’.

Example:
Main division of a literary work

Book
People not only talk and write to describe things and events and characteristics; they also express their opinions, favorable and unfavorable. Reference is the way speakers and hearers use an expression successfully; denotation is the knowledge they have that makes their use successful. But in other hand language furnishes the means for expressing a wide range of attitudes; this aspect of meaning is called connotation.

CHAPTER III
CONCLUSION
A. Summary 1. Reference
Reference is the relation between a language expression such as this door, both doors, the dog, another dog and whatever the expression related to in a particular situation of language use, including what a speaker may imagine. There are several possibilities of referent such as: * * Referent can be an entity * Referent can be a psychological power * Referent can be an event * Referent can be a situation or time * Referent can be a state

* Referent can be an action * Referent can be a process * Referent can be a psychological experience * Referent can be a manner * Referent can be a location

2. Denotation ( Cognitive Meaning) * Definition: * Denotation represents the explicit or referential meaning of a sign. Denotation refers to the literal meaning of a word; the “dictionary definition” * Example 1 : “rose” in denotation context is a flower or red rose with a green stem.

3. Connotation (Emotional Meaning) * Definition: * A connotation is the subjective, personal, even poetic interpretation of a word related with the emotional and imaginative association surrounding a word. * Example 1 : “rose” in connotation context is Connotation is a symbol. May be symbol of love, respect, condolence and etc. 4. Relation reference and denotation
Reference is the way speakers and hearers use an expression successfully; than denotation is the knowledge they have that makes their use successful.

Exercise I. Find the denotation and connotation of picture bellow:
Example:

Denotation of this example is a red rose with a green stem.
Connotation is that it is a symbol of passion and love 1.
Denotation :
Connotation : 2.
Denotation :
Connotation :

II. Find the word, concept and object bellow: a. heavenly body appearing as a point of light

star 1. ....................... ....................... 2. ........................... Rabbit 3. ................................ ..................

REFERENCES Chrysti M. Smith, Verbivore's Feast: A Banquet of Word & Phrase Origins. Farcountry Press, 2004 John Lyons, Linguistic Semantics, 1995 Kreidler, W Charles. 1998. Introducing English Semantics. London: Routledge. Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English The Living Dictionary, Pearson Longman, 2005: 1564 M.H. Abrams and Geoffrey Galt Harpham, A Glossary of Literary Terms, 9th ed. Wadsworth, 2009 http://www.linguistics.hku.hk/program/semantics2.html accessed on 13 October 2012 at 14.39 WIB http://grammar.about.com/od/d/g/denotationterm.htm accessed on 20 October 2012 at 19.31 WIB http://www.csun.edu/~bashforth/098_PDF/06Sep15Connotation_Denotation.pdf accessed on 20 October 2012 at 20.36 WIB http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denotation accessed on 20 October 2012 at 21.56 WIB