IDIOMS

 

Idioms are meaningful expressions which allow us to improve our inferential thinking, and they become a useful tool to learn about a variety of cultural features. Thereby, idioms tell a lot about the culture they come from due to they have a close relationship with their contexts. There are many idioms which can be understood if the listener knows enough about the culture. The meaning of an idiom is changed through some modifiers expressions with certain intentions. Therefore, the meaning of an idiom goes beyond semantic comprehension because the meaning becomes connotative instead of denotative.

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What is the difference between denotative and connotative meaning?

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Denotative meaning refers to the literal meaning of a word, in other words it is the "dictionary definition." ̈ For example, if you look up the word snake in a dictionary, you will discover that one of its denotative meanings is "any of numerous scaly, legless, sometimes venomous reptiles having a long, tapering, cylindrical body and found in most tropical and temperate regions". Connotative meaning, on the other hand, refers to the associations that are connected to a certain word or the emotional suggestions related to that word. It is the double sense of an expression. For instance, the connotation for the word snake could be the following: Camila is a snake because she is a danger woman.

Taken From http://www.eng.fju.edu.tw/English_Literature/terms/denotation.htm

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