The problem under consideration in the article regards the interrelation between the concept of connotation if we speak in terms of traditional linguistics and the so called personal meaning – a term which is referred to the conceptual framework of psycholinguistics. Though a special stress is made on the fact that while comparing both concepts, there is a lot in common between them in their interpretation and understanding. Connotation is understood as a personal judgement of the meaning containing a special evaluative part. The emotional impression of a word generates a certain perception of it by an individual. The emotional effect from the perception of an object is embodied in the meaning as a personal attitude to it. Personal meaning is considered to be a personal attitude of an individual to a real thing and this very personal emotionally coloured attitude assigns a specific meaning to the thing. Any general word meaning adopted by an individual undergoing the influence of his or her system of values, prescriptions and interests acquires that very personal meaning which determines the attitude of an individual to reality. The essence of the fundamental psychological theory of word meaning created by A.N.Leontiev is revealed. Leontiev understood human conscience as a certain system consisting of the following parts: meaning, personal meaning and sensitive substance. The meaning is perceived as an integrated reflection of reality and personal meaning defines and shows the attitude of an individual to reality. Personal meaning is manifested itself in the emotional marking and evaluating of this or that object. An attempt is made to prove, that connotation and personal meaning are different terms for one and the same concept which is known as the emotional evaluation of a real thing produced by human conscience. In the course of the latter process an additional gradation to the meaning of a word is introduced. One of the basic methods of psycholinguistics is described – that of the method of semantic differential which gives an opportunity to measure the connotative aspect of a word meaning.
communication, word meaning, connotation, personal meaning, semantic differential.
Современные ученые-лингвисты выделяют, наряду с основным понятийным (денотативным) компонентом значения, еще и так называемые коннотативные (дополнительные) признаки, которые выражают эмоциональное, экспрессивное отношение говорящего к обозначаемому объекту. Не случайно еще Т. Гоббс в свое время писал «об именах таких вещей, которые вызывают в нас известные эмоции, которые нам доставляют удовольствие или возбуждают наше неудовольствие, имеют в обиходной речи непостоянный смысл, так как одна и та же вещь не у всех людей вызывает одинаковые эмоции, а у одного и того же человека — одинаковые эмоции не во всякое время» [9, c. 58]. В данном случае можно считать, что уже Т. Гоббс впервые сформулировал тезис о наличии особого смысла, присущего именам предметов и отличающегося определенными эмоционально-окрашенными признаками.
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