The subjective connotative description expresses emotions or personal ideas and the denotative description of the objective, communicates accurate and rigorous information. The same word has one meaning or another, depending on the intention of the issuer and for this reason we speak of connotative language and denotative language.
In denotative language, the words used to describe refer to their everyday use and the meaning they have for a community of speakers. In connotative language, the meaning of words will depend on the use of a person in a specific context and, therefore, it is possible to speak of a symbolic and subjective meaning.
These two planes of language mean that the same word can be used denotatively or connotatively. So if I say "what an expensive gem!" He mentioned that an ornament used as an element of ornamentation of the body has a very high price and this description is denotative. On the contrary, if I say “my friend is a jewel”, the word jewel is not used as an ornament, but rather in its connotative figurative sense and it means that my friend is someone very valuable as a person.
The connotative-subjective language and the denotative-objective language are complementary. In scientific texts and in contexts where the information must be rigorous, it is necessary to use denotative and objective language. On the other hand, a connotative-subjective language is used in literary texts or in advertising language.
Although these are two different approaches, denotation and connotation are complementary and not exclusive. In fact, in a literary text there may be in the same fragment words with a connotative use and words with a certain connotation.
In both oral and written communication, we describe reality in a denotative-objective way or in a subjective and connotative way. In this sense, all words have a precise and objective meaning and if we say "dog" we know that it is a mammalian animal and the use of the word denotes something concrete. However, that same word has some connotations, that is, it can suggest all kinds of ideas (faithful companion, a childhood memory or any personal emotion).
In conclusion, the denotative meaning of a term is the one that appears in the dictionary and the significant connotative is not registered in a dictionary but is part of the context of the language and culture of a community of speakers.
