RI Language and the Media 2023

Introduction to the Media Unit Media Analysis: Connotations and Denotations The everyday reader of the newspapers, pressed for time, may not necessarily pay attention to the type of language used in the news articles. That is, she may not particularly heed the choice of words (diction) or the tone in which a story was reported. This seems reasonable if the reader is in a hurry to just get the gist of things, or a quick information update. After all, language is merely a tool, a medium if you like, with which ideas and knowledge are communicated. Or is it? In this exercise, you’ll decide. Each pair of words below has similar denotations (neutral meanings) but rather different connotations (coloured meanings). In the first blank column, write down one definition which could objectively apply to both words. In the second column, write down the different associations that each word possesses. WORD COMMON DENOTATION DIFFERENT CONNOTATIONS 1 kill massacre 2 house home 3 emotional passionate 4 sweat perspire 5 die pass away 6 pale fair 7 naive innocent 8 nosy inquisitive 9 animal beast 10 liberal permissive 11 thin skinny 12 puny delicate 13 single spinster 14 mislead deceive 15 lie misstatement 16 data

information 17 portly fat Emotive Conjugations Another way to think about the values imposed upon us by language is to think in terms of ‘emotive conjugations.’ This is a term many today associate with philosopher Bertrand Russell (1872-1970). A conjugation is a verb that has been inflected (or changed in form) to fit the context. An emotive conjugation refers to the practice of changing words (or choosing them), either consciously or unconsciously, so that we pitch a sentence in a way that benefits us, or in a way that will have the readers view us in a favorable light. In other words, when we conjugate words emotively, we find words whose factual content (denotation) is the same as its synonyms but whose connotations are entirely different. The following examples will clarify: What is being described (neutral) Word choice when applied to ‘Us’ (objective meaning) Word choice when applied to ‘Them’ (subjective meaning) Arriving at a new decision I have reconsidered You have changed your mind They have gone back on their word. Holding one’s position We are firm You are obstinate They are pig-headed Intelligence activities We are conducting research / surveillance They are spying Let us consider the examples: "We are firm", "You are obstinate", and "He is pig-headed". "Firm" here is an instance of what linguists regard as ameliorative (positive) connotation, "obstinate" and "pig-headed" as pejorative (negative) in increasing degree. Yet these three sentences could refer to the identical situation. What this suggests, in the end, is that language has great emotive power. Depending on our word choice