Microsoft Word Revised Syllabus Ver doc

Primary Factors of Connotative Meaning 
In order to understand the nature of connotative meaning, it is important to note its 
three principal sources: (1) the speakers associated with the word (2) the practical 
circumstances in which the word is used (3) the linguistic setting characteristic of the word. 
Positive and negative taboos are applied to all the three aspects. 
Association with speakers 
When words become associated with particular type of speakers, they almost 
inevitably acquire by this association a connotative meaning closely related to our attitudes 
toward those speakers. This means, for example, that words used primarily by children or in 
addressing children get a connotation of being childish speech, and thus are not appropriate 
for adult usage. 
Education levels may also be involved, so that educated persons use what is called 
“standard speech,” while the uneducated tend to use “substandard” pronunciation, words and 
grammatical forms. The more extreme instances of educated speech acquire a connotation of 
pedantry. Note that all such usage levels (standard, substandard, pedantic, etc.) are socially, 
not linguistically, determined. 
A non-linguist will speak about the sounds or letters of a language, whereas the 
linguist will speak of phonemes, phones, graphs, graphemes, etc. Moreover, the way in which 
persons employ such terms becomes a mark of their technical ability, so that vocabulary tests 
are often used by employment bureaus to determine degrees of experience and competence. 
The attitude we have toward the people who use a word. Whether favourable or 
unfavourable, becomes our attitude toward that word; that becomes a connotation of 
particular word. 

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Levels of Usage 
In most languages, even the most “primitive,” there is some kind of contrast in what 
may be called levels of language. One set of labels that has proved generally useful divides 
this dimension into technical, formal, informal, casual, and intimate language. Even in 
“primitive” languages one encounters the technical language of the medicine man, the formal 
languages of the chief addressing a gathering, the informal speech of conversations around 
the evening fire, the casual conversation between “joking relatives,” and the intimate speech 
of home and family. The differences between these levels may be very clearly marked in 
pronunciation, grammatical forms, and the selection of vocabulary. These levels in turn 
contribute to the connotations, as they result from the interaction of the three factors 
mentioned above: speakers, circumstances and linguistic setting.