Types of Meaning or Semantics

Seven types of meaning

Meaning is an important part of the language. We can use language for the motive of communication and meaning plays a very important role in language communication. The meaning has been defined variously. But the most common definition is that which holds between the word and the referent or things. There are various types of meaning. The famous scholar Geoffrey Leech has given Seven types of meaning or Semantic. They are--

1. Conceptual meaning
2. Connotative meaning
3. Stylistic meaning
4. Affective meaning
5. Reflective meaning
6. Collocative meaning
7. Thematic meaning

1.Conceptual Meaning

Conceptual which means abstract meaning that is additionally famous is the denotative or psychological feature which means is widely assumed to be the central consider communication. We can also call the conceptual Meaning as literal or dictionary meaning. Also known as “ denotative” or cognitive” meaning. This type of meaning can be explained by breaking the world into different semantic constituents. Conceptual meaning is also called logical or cognitive meaning.

The example of the conceptual Meaning is that.

Boy:=+HUMAN+MALE-ADULTgirl:=+HUMAN-MALE-ADULT

2. Connotative meaning 

Connotative is kind of associated meaning. Certain characteristics or features are associated with a particular world. Connotative meaning includes not only physical characteristics but also psychological, historical and social properties.

For example, the word women mean gregarious, emotional, sensitive etc. The other example is that rose. The conceptual meaning of the word rose is a flower but its connotative meaning is freshness. Similarly, the connotative meaning of the word “ night” is “ Evil”, “ lamb” refers to innocence, while “ beauty” is the connotative meaning of “ moon”.

3. Collocative Meaning

Collocative meaning consists of the associations a word acquire on account of the meaning of words. Which tend to occur in its environment. It is created with the collocative of one word with the other.

In collocative Meaning, a particular word goes with another particular word. Linguistic communication conspicuously includes the communication of something through association with words which tend to occur in the context of another word. 

For example:
i. Boy collocates with handsome
ii. Girl collocates with pretty
iii. Road collocates with long

4.Stylistic meaning

Stylistic meaning is that meaning is created specifically by the use of language. When we say the same thing in different ways the stylistic meaning is created. stylistic meaning results from a “style”. Hockett defines “ Style” beautifully saying, “ two utterance in the same language which convey approximately the same meaning but which are different in their linguistic structure can be said to differ in style.

For example, “he died” “he expired” “he left for heavenly aboard” in these sentence the same meaning has been expressed in different styles.

5.Reflective meaning

Reflective meaning is the meaning which arises in cases of multiple conceptual meaning. It is what is communicated through association with another sense of the same expression. It occurs when one sense of word forms part of our response to another sense.

The example of reflected meaning is a synonymous expression of “The Comforter and "The Holy Ghost" both referring to the Third person of the Trinity, one may find one's reactions to these terms conditioned by the everyday non-religious meanings of 'The Comforting' and 'Ghost'.'' The Comforter'' sounds warm and ''Comforting'', while 'the Holy Ghost' sounds awesome.

6. Affective Meaning

Affective meaning is largely a parasite category in the sense that to express our emotions we rely upon the mediation of the other categories of meaning-conceptual, connotative or stylistic. Emotional expressions through style come about, for instance, when we adopt an impolite tone to express friendliness. On the other hand, there are elements of language whose chief function is to express emotion. When we use these, we communicate feelings and attitudes without the mediation if any other kind of semantic function.

Affective meaning is often explicit conveyed through the conceptual or connotative content of the words used. Affective meaning is largely a parasite category in the sense that to express our emotions. we rely upon the mediation of other categories of meaning conceptual, connotative or stylistic. Hence, factors such as intonation and voice timbre also play an important role.

7. Thematic meaning

The final of meaning is the thematic meaning. Thematic meaning is mainly a matter of selection between alternative grammatical constructions. In thematic meaning, the theme remains the same, but the order of two sentences many changes. Thematic meaning is mainly a matter of choice between alternative grammatical construction.

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The organization of the message or information in terms of order and emphasis has an unavoidable role in linguistic communication. Therefore, what is communicated by the way in which the speaker organizes the message in terms of ordering, focus, and emphasis can be substantiated as a sort of meaning labelled “thematic meaning”.

For example, it is often felt that an active sentence, such as "Mr John donated the first prize has a different meaning from its passive equivalent" The first was donated by Mr John, although in conceptual content they appear to be identical. So change of voice also comes under the thematic meaning.

The two sentences certainly have different communicative values ​​in that they are indicative of different contexts.  The active sentence seems to answer an inherent question "What did Mr John donate ?, whereas the passive equivalent seems to answer the implicit question Who donated the first prize? That is, the active sentence suggests that we know" Mr John, but the passive sentence does not.

Thematic meaning is mainly a matter of selection between alternative grammatical constructions.  But the kind of contrast by ordering and emphasis illustrated by the active and passive sentences above can also be contrived by lexical means, for example, by substituting "belongs to" owns in:

1. My father owns the largest mobile-shop in New York.

2. The largest mobile-shop in New York belongs to my brother.

In other cases, it is stress and intonation rather than grammatical construction that highlight information in a specific part of a sentence or utterance.

TOP QUESTIONS

👉What are the three types of meaning?

Answer: Three types-

1. Grammatical meaning

2. Referential meaning and

3. Connotative (i.e., emotive or associative) meaning.

👉What are the two types of meaning of terms?

Answer: There are two types of meaning-

1. Conceptual meaning and

2. Associative meaning.

👉What are the seven types of meaning?

Answer: There are seven types of meaning

1. Conceptual meaning
2. Connotative meaning
3. Stylistic meaning
4. Affective meaning
5. Reflective meaning
6. Collocative meaning
7. Thematic meaning