Connotation and Denotation: examples (simple)

In linguistics , the denotative meaning or signified, denotation, is opposed to the connotative meaning or signified, connotation. Here is a short explanation of Connotation and Denotation with examples.

Connotation and Denotation

Denotation is the literal meaning of a term, which can be defined (and found in the dictionary ).

The connotation is the set of elements of meaning which can be added to this literal meaning (and which may or may not be found in the dictionary).

For example, "car", "automobile" and "ride" have the same denotation, because all these words refer to a car. But they have different connotations: car is the most common term, it is neutral. On the other hand, "automobile" sounds old and technical. "Ride" is slang, and while denoting just a car, signifies much more.

Another example of connotation and denotation: “father”, “dad” and "daddy" all have the same denotation. But in terms of connotation, "father" is the word most used in writing and orally. "Dad" is the same man only on much more personal and familiar terms. "Daddy" has an even more personal connotation.

Antohr example: "cop" and "policeman" have the same denotation, but hardly the same connotation.

Meaning of Context

The same word or symbol may therefore have different connotations depending on the context in which it is used. Thus, the color white connotes purity and marriage for a European, mourning for an Asian. In another example the swastika , if seen by an Indian as a Hindu religious symbol (representing positive energy), for a Westerner evokes Nazism .

The opposition between denotation and connotation maintains complex relationships with the opposition between proper meaning and figurative meaning.

Foucault's Concept of Discourse Explained

What is discourse according to Foucault?

The concept of discourse is central to Michel Foucault's philosophy and social thought. According to Foucault discourse is defined by any type of activity of communication and representation (verbal or otherwise) that is conditioned and constrained by a set of explicit and implicit rules that enable any activity and at the same time limit it (it can be compared with Thomas Kuhn's notion of paradigm in science). The system of discourse structures the manner in which we perceive reality, it determines what constitutes right or wrong , defines the range of possible utterances in speech and representation, underlies any capacity to understand or argue, allocates the right to speak and in fact governs over everything that can and cannot be said or know.  According to Foucault discourse is a historical and social product that like language appears synchronically and evolves diachronically (see article on de Saussure's thoughts on language).  

Foucault's discourse theory

Unlike ideology in the Marxist tradition, Foucault's discourse theory does not originate from one defined source of power or social strata, it does not have one specific goal or purpose and there isn't one single function that rules over it. Discourse is not governed by the state (though totalitarian regimes definitely aspired to such control).  Like ideology (especially in Althusser's views on ideology), discourse for Foucault have material existence in the shape of elaborate practices that are governed by the discourse while at the same time generate it. For Foucault discourse can be both positive and negative, repressive and liberating. Everyone of us is the subject of discourse and therefore a part in its construction. In any case, for Foucault there is no social (or even human) existence outside of discourse. Discourse shapes identities, thoughts, wants and needs, positions, normality and abnormality and it manifests itself in every part of our daily life.  

  

Examples of discourse

According to Foucault, discourse refers to the ways in which language is used to construct and reinforce meaning, knowledge, and power. Discourse is not limited to language and can be applied to any manner in which humans produce meaning. 

Examples of concept of discourse:

The discourse of medicine: The way in which medical knowledge is constructed and disseminated through language, including the terms and concepts used to describe diseases, treatments, and the human body.

The discourse of psychology: The way in which psychological knowledge is constructed and disseminated through language, including the terms and concepts used to describe mental states, emotions, and behaviors.

The discourse of politics: The way in which political ideas and ideologies are constructed and disseminated through language, including the terms and concepts used to describe governance, democracy, and political systems.

The discourse of education: The way in which knowledge is constructed and disseminated through language in educational settings, including the terms and concepts used to teach and learn about various subjects.

See also: What is cultural discourse analysis?

More about Foucault:

Foucault's Concept of Heterotopia
Michel Foucault  - "The Subject and Power"

Foucault - "Of Other Spaces" - summary
Foucault on Technologies of Power

Foucault's Concept of Discipline
Foucault on Power and Knowledge
Michel Foucault: Panopticism - Summary
Foucault's Panopticism explained 
Michel Foucault and Marxism
Michel Foucault - ""The History of Sexuality" 
Foucault, Structuralism and post-structuralism

Definitions of culture in sociology and anthropology

Culture is all around us, an inherit part of our social life as well as our personality and sense of subjectivity. However, culture, as cultural studies researcher Raymond Williams noted, is one of the most complex words in the English language. Culture is popularly used to denote as narrow sense that is usually related to the arts and humanities. In a broader sense, culture denotes the practices, beliefs and perceptions of a given society. Culture is additionally often opposed with "savagery", relating to something which is "cultured" as a product of a certain evolvement from a natural state. In the theoretical sense culture is often related as a system of structures with power relations running through them.

In social sciences, sociology, anthropology and cultural studies, there is hardly a consensus regarding the meaning of the term culture and various definitions of culture are in circulation. Researchers Kroeber and Kluckhohn (Culture: A Critical Review of Literature", 1952) gathered an array of various definitions of culture is sociology and anthropology and have divided them into six primary categories: 1. Descriptive definitions of culture which view culture as a total system of customs, beliefs, knowledge, laws, means of expression as so forth. 2. Historical definitions of culture which view culture as the continuation of generations. 3. Normative definitions of culture which related to value systems which construct social and personal behavior. 4. Psychological definitions of culture which stress culture's role in interpersonal relations. 5. Structural definitions of culture that focus on relational aspects of cultural components through abstraction. 6. socio-genetic definitions of culture which focus on the genesis and continued existence of a culture.

A different, more contemporary, way to distinguish definitions of culture is to note the way in which culture is theoretically perceived as either something which is opposed to materiality, technology and social structures from which culture is something different, or as a space of non-material ideas which are also, obviously, abstract. Other definitions of culture focus on its autonomy from social and economical structures.

This leads us to propose two fundamental understanding regarding definitions of culture: A. culture is an ensemble of practices, values and meanings common to a collective entity; B. culture is the totality of activities and objects through which meaning is generated and circulated in a given collective entity.      

See also: Classic Definition of Culture