Types Of Connotations

There are many different Types Of Connotations. A connotation is the emotional association which carries an additional meaning with that of the original phrase or a sentence. It is the feeling, idea or the emotional connection with a particular word. A connotation can be either positive or negative. For example if one is described as an egoist, it can be considered positive or negative as well. So in addition to its literal meaning, some implied meaning is attached with it. Several types of connotation are there to express the feeling and emotion of a person. They influence the way you think about any particular object or a person.

The first type of connation is the positive connotation which is also called the favorable connotation. In this type, a person feel good about any word or the word makes them happy. In this, the words are giving the positive impact to a person. For example the word cheap can be imply as a inexpensive and same can be implied to be for a person who is ill made or deceptive. The words like using the word challenging instead of difficult, childlike instead of childish and lucid, acumen, veracious and temperate etc carries the positive impact and so these are the positive connotation. The second type of connotation is the negative connotation also called the unfavorable connation. Those terms are considered to be negative where the words describe the negative qualities or the disabilities of a person. For example the terms like cripple or disabled or diseased. In negative connotation, word provokes a negative emotional response in a person. In rhetoric negative connotations are used to deceive the people unethically. Both positive and negative connotations are the types of connotation that are used by the people depending on their nature.

The third type of connotation that is also very common and is used widely is the neutral connotation. This is the perception of the reader or a listener and is developed on the basis of the specific words. In negative connotation, the person develops neither positive nor negative connotation. For example the word chick and woman are used for the adult female in the North American society but the word chick is taken in a negative term while woman carries a neutral meaning. Also shack is considered as a negative connotation while on the other end mansion is having the positive connotation, in terms of neutral connotation, the word house is used which is neither having a positive or a negative connotation in it.

These all types of connotation are used by the writers depending on his intentions. Mostly in a journalistic writings, the positive connotations are used to avoid the indifferent readers. If we talk about the scientific or the technical documents, they usually carry the neutral connotations. Politically motivated writings are usually having the neutral connotations which are used in them. Other types of connotations are the formal and the informal connotations. When you talk with any older person or a person having a higher authority then you used the formal connotation while speaking with your friends, you used the informal connotation