Geoffrey
Leech in his book “Semantic: A study of meaning” (1974) divided meaning into
seven types.
1.
Conceptual
meaning
Conceptual
meaning is also called logical or cognitive meaning. It is basic meaning which
linked to the primary dictionary definition. The conceptual meaning is the base
for all the other types of meaning.
Ex:
woman = human, female, adult.
2. Connotative
meaning
Connotative
meaning refers to a meaning
that is implied by a word apart from the thing which it describes explicitly.
Ex: “That woman is a dove at heart.” – Here,
the dove implies peace or gentility.
3.
Social meaning
The meaning conveyed by the piece of language
about the social context of its use is called the social meaning. Social meaning
is related to the situation in which an utterance is used.
ex: the word ‘Home’ can have many use also like
domicile (official), residence (formal), abode (poetic), home (ordinary use)
4.
Affective or emotive meaning
It refers to emotive association or effects of
words evoked the reader and listener. It is what is conveyed about personal
feelings or attitude towards the listener. Affective meaning is often conveyed
through conceptual, connotative content of the words used.
5.
Reflected
meaning
Reflected
meaning arises when a word has more than one conceptual meaning. The term
reflected meaning refers to certain associations with another sense of the same
expression.
6. Collocative
meaning
Collocative
meaning is the meaning which a word acquires in the company of certain words.
collocative meaning refers to associations of a word because of its usual or
habitual co-occurrence with certain types of words.
Ex:
‘pretty’ and ‘handsome’ indicate ‘good looking’
7. Thematic
meaning
Thematic
meaning denotes the organization of a message in terms of information
structure. It refers to what is communicated by the way in which a speaker or a
writer organizes the message in terms of ordering focus.