English teachers invariably review connotation and denotation with their students. This has happened every year of English without fail. I could assume that everyone knows what they are or I could take the ironic route and explain them to those who don’t know. I’ll take irony. Denotation is the book definition of the word and connotation is the meaning that the word has taken in everyday speech. For example, Alan recently asked me if I had decimated something. I responded by saying, “No, I destroyed more than one tenth.” Albeit pretentious, the example works.
In that same day, I also heard many people misuse words. They used words that could have passed the inattentive ear, but did not fit. I thought of all the times I had not understood what a word meant but used it in a sentence hoping I had it right. There is a common psychological process that takes place during that awkward situation. We think of the word and wonder whether it fits in the sentence. If we have no knowledge of what the word means, the last resort is how it sounds. We pick all words, even the ones we know, based off of some level of how they sound. When we finally say the word that doesn’t fit, there is a level of tension created. There is comfort however in knowing that at least it sounded right.
Sound is important to speech, so why not create a subsection of –notation called phonotation. Phonotation would be the meaning as a result of how it sounds. It would be onomatopoeiatizing every word.
I believe phonotation serves a place in language especially in areas like poetry and lyrics. Sound can be more important, especially when dealing with spoken word. The meaning should come through in the rhythm and noises. That was what initially attracted me to Talking Heads: they didn’t make sense. David Byrne used his voice as an instrument, not a complementary text to the music. I’d like to see more of that: a liberation from the limitations of denoted and connoted language. There is a whole world to be explored from the sound of words. Mayhap I’ll write a poem or a song employing such techniques.
