CONNOTATION.—Correlation of attribute and object, When applied to the Term, it has the same meaning as Intension or Content, applied to the Concept itself. Thus, a Connotative Term is one which, when applied to an object, is such as to imply in its signification some attribute belonging to that object. » It connotes, i.e., notes along with the object something considered as belonging to it, as ‘The founder of Rome.’ The founding of Rome is, by that appellation, attributed to the person to whom it is applied. A term which merely denotes an object, without implying any attribute of that object, is called absolute or non-connotative; as Romulus. The latter term, although it denotes the same individual as the former, does not, like it, connote (imply in its signification) any attribute of that individual» (Whately, Logic, bk. II. ch. V. sec. 1).
So Mill—»A non-connotative term is one which signifies a subject only or an attribute only. A connotative term is one which denotes a subject and implies an attribute » (Logic, bk. I. ch. II. sec. 5). According to Mill, the only non-connotative terms are proper names. Some, as Jevons, hold that all terms are connotative (see Lessons in Elementary Logic, lesson V.). Fowler holds that «singular and collective terms are not connotative, except so far as they suggest common terms» (Elements of Deductive Logic, p. 20). |