Connotation and denotation are properties of the terms in a proposition. They are also known as intention and extension of terms. A term is meant to indicate an object or objects to which the name refers and also to suggest certain qualities residing in those objects. For example, the term ‘Man’ refers to all human beings and also it implies the qualities of rationality and animality. The function of suggesting the qualities possessed by the objects is known as connotation .
The function of indicating objects to which the term applies is called denotation. In other words, every term denotes certain objects and connotes certain qualities. Denotation is also known as Extension, as it suggests the extent of objects to which the term is applied. Connotation also is called Intension because it refers to the qualities intended by the term. The connotation of a term consists of the attributes implied by the term. A term may have a number of attributes, of these, what all attributes come within the range of connotation? There are three views regarding the exact meaning of connotation. They are:
(i) Objective view,
(ii) subjective and
(iii) Logical or conventional view.
(i) Objective view: According to this view, connotation means all the attributes contained in theterm, both known and unknown. In logic, we are not concerned with anything unknown to ourreason; it is concerned with relatively agreed and common attributes of a term.
(ii) Subjective view: Here only those attributes known to subject or speaker is taken into
consideration. But the term may suggest different qualities or attributes to different minds. In other words, the subjective meaning of connotation may vary from person to person according to different views. If we accept this view there will be no agreement regarding truth, and the very purpose of logic will be defeated.
(iii) Logical or conventional view: According to this view, connotation means only the essential and fixed attributes of the object on account of which the term is applied to the object. For example, the connotation of the ‘Man’ refers only the essential qualities like rationality and animality that is shared by one and all humans alike. It does not include the non - essential features like complexion, height, weight etc. In short, logicians are concerned only with the conventional or logical view of connotation. Relationship between connotation and denotation:- A quantitative relation can be observed between connotation and denotation of a term.
One view suggests that as the connotation of the term increases or decreases, its denotation decreases or increases respectively, and vice versa. For example, let us take the term ‘politician’. It denotes all the politicians in the world, and connotes certain attributes. If we increase the connotation by adding‘Indian’ to the term, now its extension is reduced in number. That is, when we increase the connotation the denotation decreases. Again, if we add another connotation ‘south’ to ‘Indianpolitician’ then the extension decreases further. Similarly, if we decrease connotation of the term‘Man’ by cutting off the quality ‘rationality’ the term denotes greater number of objects, namely, all the animals in the world.
On basis of the above explanation, certain logicians formulated a mathematical expression to the quantitative relation between connotation and denotation of a term. They suggest this relationbetween denotation and connotation by the law of ‘inverse ratio’. This seems apparent, but on close analysis we can see that there is no strict quantitative increase or decrease as connotation increases or decreases or vice versa. We can also see that there is only one- sided variation between connotation and denotation in manyinstances. The mathematical ‘inverse ratio’ is possible only when both sides of the relation varytogether strictly in proportion. There are cases where the law of inverse ratio does not hold good. Hence, the law of inverse ratio relation is not applicable in all cases of denotation and connotation.
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