Connotation

About: Connotation is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 2096 publications have been published within this topic receiving 8265 citations.

Learning General Connotation of Words using Graph-based Algorithms

Abstract: In this paper, we introduce a connotation lexicon, a new type of lexicon that lists words with connotative polarity, i.e., words with positive connotation (e.g., award, promotion) and words with negative connotation (e.g., cancer, war). Connotation lexicons differ from much studied sentiment lexicons: the latter concerns words that express sentiment, while the former concerns words that evoke or associate with a specific polarity of sentiment. Understanding the connotation of words would seem to require common sense and world knowledge. However, we demonstrate that much of the connotative polarity of words can be inferred from natural language text in a nearly unsupervised manner. The key linguistic insight behind our approach is selectional preference of connotative predicates. We present graph-based algorithms using PageRank and HITS that collectively learn connotation lexicon together with connotative predicates. Our empirical study demonstrates that the resulting connotation lexicon is of great value for sentiment analysis complementing existing sentiment lexicons.

Advertising to the beat: An analysis of brand placements in hip-hop music videos

Abstract: Hip-hop is a multi-billion-dollar industry influencing everything from fashion to advertising. The current study documents the overwhelming presence of brands in hip-hop music videos. Through the use of content analysis, we capture not only the branded products and their associated categories, but also the execution and connotation of those placements. Findings indicate that over 93% of all hip-hop videos contained some reference to branded products varying in prominence, prestige and consumption. Further, brand managers have many opportunities available with respect to brand placement in hip-hop – several of those opportunities are highlighted herein.

"The thing not named": Willa Cather as a lesbian writer.

Abstract: In her often-quoted essay on the craft of fiction, "The Novel Demeuble,"' Willa Cather asks her readers to consider the importance of an unnamed, absent presence in the literary text. Whereas phrases like "overtone," "verbal mood," and "emotional aura" suggest ineffable realms of experience and feeling-complex or barely sensed signifieds for which there exists no precise verbal signifier-Cather's startling phrase "the thing not named" has another connotation: an aspect of experience possessing a name that the writer does not, or cannot, employ. A sophisticated novelist well read in fin de siecle literature, Cather must have been aware of the

Exploring the Cognitive-Emotional Fugue in Electronic Negotiations

Abstract: A substantial body of literature in CMC and eNS research suggests that communication via textual electronic media is devoid of emotional content as many non- and para-verbal indicators expressing emotions are missing. In order to support these theoretical positions, up to date, studies have mainly focused on the direct expression of emotions. To complement this research, we analyze transcripts from electronic negotiation experiments conducted at three universities in December 2006. By using an exploratory research methodology, i.e., content analysis and subsequent multidimensional scaling (MDS), we analyze the emotional connotation of factual statements (content layer). Thereby we take three different perspectives, (1) on a macro resolution level we assess negotiations in order to gain insight into the dynamics of emotional communication over time, (2) on a meso resolution level, single messages (speech acts) of transcripts are the units of analysis and (3) on a micro resolution level, we analyze single utterances within messages. Our results demonstrate that emotions, although not necessarily expressed explicitly, are nevertheless conveyed by the wording and phrasing of utterances. We show that factual statements in negotiations convey an emotional layer, and the same factual statements can be differentiated along their emotional connotation depending on the lexical and syntactical choices of the communicators. Furthermore, there is indication that emotions seem to evolve differently in successful and failed negotiations.

The Basic Liberties

Abstract: How to characterize the basic liberties other than by giving a few examples and adding an 'and so on'? This paper starts from the intuitive connection between enjoying the basic liberties and being a free citizen. It identifies three constraints that that connotation supports: that the basic liberties should be personally significant, equally co-enjoyable by all and as numerous as those other constraints allow. And then it explores the shape that those constraints would impose on the basic liberties, elaborating in particular on the implications of equal co-enjoyment.