Connotation (semiotics)
Overview
Connotation, in semiotics, is known as the cultural, emotional, or personal association that a word, phrase, or sign carries in its daily use, which is distinct from and adds to its denotation, which is its literal or explicit meaning.
Notable Theorists
Ferdinand de Saussure
To understand the distinction between connotation and denotation in semiotics, one must first understand Ferdinand de Saussure’s—a founding member in the field of semiotics—model of the sign, which deconstructs the sign into two parts: the signifier, which is the physical form of the sign, and the signified, which is the concept or idea it represents.[1] Although it can be argued that the relationship between the two is arbitrary, it is this relationship between the signifier and the signified that gives it meaning in the world. Therefore, connotation functions to add a complexity between this relationship by extending what is signified into abstract, context-dependent ideas to extract the meaning held in both personal and shared sociocultural memories.
Roland Barthes
Roland Barthes, a renowned philosopher, critic, and semiotician, notes that Saussure’s model of the sign “focuses on denotation at the expense of connotation.”[2] Instead, he was particularly interested in “how signs can subtly communicate ideological or connotative meaning and perpetuate the dominant values of society.”[3] How is it that some signs can remain neutral, while others acquire powerful inflections that can influence one’s worldview?
He explicates that, particularly through photography, there is an “order of signification” when it comes to connotation and denotation. The first order is that of the sign’s denotation, with a signifier and a signified. Connotation is then a second order of signification using the denotated sign as a signifier and adding to it an additional signified. It with this system that he analyzes the famous photograph of a young uniformed black soldier saluting the French flag, where the first-order signification denotes the French military, yet its second-order signification connotes ideas of colonialism and patriotism.[4] This dialectical reading of text and photography was deeply influential in the next coming decades, especially in the field of media studies.
Furthermore, Barthes posits that, in daily usage, this second-order connotative signification is what takes over through naturalization. Although denotation pretends to be the first meaning, it is actually the connotation that presents itself first, and denotation becomes another connotation in how it closes the reading of an image.[5]
Usage
The use of connotations in daily life relies heavily on the coding system of semiotics, where words, signs, and symbols are learnt through arbitrary conventions and patterns and encoded into our memory. As we learned in class, systems of meaning are equivalent to value interpretation, and memory becomes a social system of remembering signs and their meaning. Therefore, individuals are constantly encoding meaning and storing these encoded meanings from their experiences and exposure to culture and media.
Examples
| Sign/Symbol | Denotation | Connotation |
 |
A cartoon heart broken into half | Symbol of heartbreak, lost love, or disappointment |
 |
A cartoon drawing of a human hand, where the index and middle finger are raised and spread to form a ‘V’ while the other fingers are closed against the palm | Symbol of victory or peace |
 |
A white dove carrying an olive branch | Symbol for a peace offering or a wish to end the conflict with someone, in reference to the popular idiom “to offer an olive branch” |
 |
A brown wooden cross | Symbol of religion, particularly Christianity, where it brings about associations of the cross that Jesus died on |
Implications
On society
Oftentimes, a connotation will have an implied value judgement or feelings. Because the connotation of a sign is driven by the interpretant’s sociocultural associations, it is also typically related to their class, age, gender, ethnicity, and so on. Even the very creation of connotative meaning emerges from necessity; they are created to serve the needs of the community when the denotative relationship between the signifier and signified is inadequate for its daily usage.
On language & art
As artists, theorists, and makers, it would be remiss to ignore how connotations are embedded into all media, especially within language and visual art.
Language is a deeply social system and process involving signs and symbols, where understanding can only be found when something is put in relation to and in terms of other things. Thus, connotations are always abound, influencing how one perceives the world and how the world perceives you through what they can understand.
In photography and film, what the audience sees (and hears) is its denotative meaning, yet these images are connotative in the sense that they are meant to evoke certain feelings and emotions by involving emotional overtones, objective interpretation, social values, and ideological assumptions through composition, framing, lighting, and other technical elements.[6] For example, a high angle shot of the subject will connote a sense of inferiority by literally looking down at them with the lens, while a low angle shot will connote a sense of dominance as they look down on the viewer instead.
- ↑ Saussure, Ferdinand de (1959). Course in General Linguistics. New York: Philosophical Library.
- ↑ Barthes, Roland (1964). Elements of Semiology. London: Jonathan Cape.
- ↑ Griffin, Em (2011). A First Look at Communication Theory. New York: McGraw-Hill Education. pp. 332–343. ISBN 978-0073534305.
- ↑ Barthes, Roland (1957). Mythologies. New York: Hill & Wang.
- ↑ Barthes, Roland (1961). A Barthes Reader. New York: Hill & Wang. pp. 194–210.
- ↑ Metz, Christian (1974). Film Language: A Semiotics of the Cinema. New York: Oxford University Press.