Inphilosophy andlinguistics,[1] thedenotation of a word or expression is its strictly literal meaning. For instance, theEnglish word "warm" denotes theproperty of having high temperature. Denotation is contrasted with other aspects of meaning, in particularconnotation. For instance, the word "warm" may evoke calmness, coziness, or kindness (as in the warmth of someone's personality) but theseassociations are not part of the word's denotation. Similarly, an expression's denotation is separate frompragmatic inferences it may trigger. For instance, describing something as "warm" oftenimplicates that it is not hot, but this is once again not part of the word's denotation.
Denotation plays a major role in several fields. Withinsemantics andphilosophy of language, denotation is studied as an important aspect ofmeaning. Inmathematics andcomputer science, assignments of denotations are assigned to expressions are a crucial step in defining interpretedformal languages. The main task offormal semantics is to reverse engineer the computational system which assigns denotations to expressions ofnatural languages.
Innatural language semantics, denotations are conceived of as the outputs of the semantic component of the grammar. For example, the denotation of the word "blue" is the property of being blue and the denotation of the word "Barack Obama" is the person who goes by that name. Phrases also have denotations which are computed according to theprinciple of compositionality. For instance, theverb phrase "passed the class" denotes the property of having passed the class. Depending on one's particular theory of semantics, denotations may be identified either with terms'extensions,intensions, or other structures such ascontext change potentials.[2][3][4][5]
When uttered indiscourse, expressions may convey other associations which are not computed by the grammar and thus are not part of its denotation. For instance, depending on the context, saying "I ran five miles" may convey that you ran exactly five miles and not more. This content is not part of the sentence's denotation but ratherpragmatic inferences arrived at by applyingsocial cognition to its denotation.[2]
Linguistic discussion of the differences between denotation,meaning, andreference is rooted in the work ofFerdinand de Saussure, specifically in his theory ofsemiotics written in the bookCourse in General Linguistics.[6] PhilosophersGottlob Frege andBertrand Russell have also made influential contributions to this subject.[7]
Although they have similar meanings, denotation should not be confused withreference.[8] A reference is a specific person, place, or thing that a speaker identifies when using a word.[6] Vocabulary fromJohn Searle'sspeech act theory can be used to define this relationship.[9] According to this theory, the speaker's action of identifying a person, place, or thing is called referring. The specific person, place, or thing identified by the speaker is called the referent. Reference itself captures the relationship between the referent and the word or phrase used by the speaker. Forreferring expressions, the denotation of the phrase is most likely the phrase's referent. Forcontent words, the denotation of the word can refer to any object, real or imagined, to which the word could be applied.[2]
In"On Sense and Reference", philosopherGottlob Frege began the conversation about distinctions between meaning and denotation when he evaluated words like the German words "Morgenstern" and "Abendstern".[6] Author Thomas Herbst uses the words "kid" and "child" to illustrate the same concept.[6] According to Herbst, these two words have the same denotation, as they have the same member set; however, "kid" may be used in an informal speech situation whereas "child" may be used in a more formal speech situation.
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