With respect to the
functional styles, vocabulary can be subdivided into bookish (literary), which
is typical of formal styles (scientific, official, business, publicist), and
colloquial vocabulary which is typical of the lower style (colloquial). In
addition, there is always present in the language a stylistically neutral
vocabulary, which can be used in all kinds of style. Cf.:
child (neutral) — kid (colloq.) — infant (e.g.
infant schools — official, bookish) — offspring (also
bookish, used in scientific works); father (nt\A.) — daddy (coll.) — male parent/ancestor (formal); leave/go
away (neut.) — be off/get out/get away/get lost (coll., or familiar- colloquial) — retire/withdraw
(bookish); continue (neutr.) — go on, carry on (coll.) — proceed
(bookish, formal); begin/start (neutr.) — get going/get started/Come on! (coll.) — commence (formal);
Stylistically
neutral words usually constitute the main member in a group of synonyms, the
so-called synonymic dominant: they can be used in
any style, they are not emotionally coloured and have no additional evaluating elements; such are the words
child, father, begin,
leave/go away, continue in the
examples above.
Unlike neutral
words (synonymic dominants), which only denote a certain notion and thus have
only a denotational meaning, their stylistic synonyms usually contain some connotations, i.e. additional components of meaning which
express some emotional colouring or evaluation of the object named; these additional
components may also be simply signs of a particular functional style of speech.
Observe, for example, the following connotations:
an endearing
connotation — e.g. in the words kid,
daddy, mummy (as different from the neutral words child, father,
mother); derogatory connotation — e.g. in rot, trash, stuff (as different
from the neutral 'something worthless or silly'); jocular/humourous — e.g.
in comestibles (=food), beak (= nose), to kick the bucket (= to die); rude or vulgar, e.g. in shut up/shut your
trap; ironical or sarcastic — brain-wash, a pretty
kettle offish (= an embarrassing situation), notorious (his notorious jokes; he is notorious for
his bad behaviour — approving
evaluation — e.g. in the word renowned
(a renowned poet;
Edison is renowned for his great inventions): on the other hand, its
synonyms like well-known, famous are neutral in this respect (have no
connotations).
It should be noted that we do not include into the stylistically coloured vocabulary
words that directly express some positive or
negative evaluation of an object — good, bad, pretty, ugly. Here the evaluation expressed makes up their denotational meaning proper (it represents the
notion expressed by the word), but not an additional connotation. Also,
it is easy to notice that words like ugly,
awful, beautiful, wonderful, superb denote a high degree of quality
(negative or positive), but this component of degree
(of intensity) is again part of their denotational meaning, not a connotation
(which is understood as an additional element accompanying the
denotational meaning of a word).
As connotation
proper (a special colouring), negative evaluation is present e.g. in the word scary
(a scary girl — both words have an
ironic or derogatory colouring) or pretty — when it is used in phrases
like a pretty boy/man (humorous, ironical or derogatory connotations;), or a pretty state (It's a pretty state of affairs when
I can't afford the price of a pint of
beer any morel). That's a pretty kettle offish; there is ironical
connotation in the word cox-comb (literally), like in
the corresponding, or in a cock of
the walk.
There is a
derogatory connotation in the words to fabricate, to concoct, as different from
the neutral phrase 'to create a false story' (which expresses the negative evaluation by the denotational meanings
of the words): there is a negative evaluative connotation in to
slander — as different from emotionally neutral
expressions like to distort facts, which again express the idea of 'falsification'
directly. In the sentence Don't read this bad
hook the negative evaluation is
expressed directly (by the denotational meaning of the adjective bad),
whereas in Don't read this trash the evaluation is expressed by the
derogatory colouring of the noun trash — in other words, it is present
here only as a connotation; thus, words like trash, rot, stuff (= "something
worthless, bad") are stylistically marked, while the word bad
is stylistically unmarked.
Apart from that, as was
already mentioned above, the stylistic connotation of a word may be just a sign
of a certain functional style to which the word belongs, without carrying any
emotional or evaluative element. Thus, sentences like She is cute (= pretty), It is cute (= very good), It's cool
contain not only a high positive evaluation (in the same way as the stylistically neutral
variants She is pretty/good-looking or It is very good), but also
a stylistic connotation which shows that they belong to the familiar-colloquial
style, or even to slang. Colloquial connotations are also present in the phrases to fix a watch (neutral
— to repair a watch), to fix an appointment for seven o'clock (= to
arrange), to fix breakfast (American — to cook breakfast).
On the other hand, a bookish connotation, or colouring (as a feature of
official or scientific style of speech) is present in expressions like to cause/to inflict bodily injuries (neutral
— to hit/to beat/to hurt), to cause/to inflict damage (neutr.
to harm/to do harm), to impose a tax/a
fine (neutr. to tax/to fine),
an impoverished person (neutr. a
poor person), highly improbable (neutr. very unlikely), etc.
A rude (vulgar)
connotation is present in vulgarisms, or (aboo
words, which are not to be used in the speech of educated people and are
therefore often replaced by euphemisms — the more 'gentle' names of the object. Thus, the
word 'devil' is, for many people, unacceptable in speech and may be replaced by phrases like 'the evil one', 'the fallen angel', 'the Prince of darkness', 'Lucifer, 'Mephistopheles'. The same concerns expletives (curse - wirds): damn, damned are often repiaced by the euphemistic darn, darned, dashed; bloody is sometimes replaced by blooming, blasted, blessed, ect.
