H. P. Grice's Denotatum

DENOTATUM -- denotation Logic, philosophy of language The distinction between denotation and connotation was introduced by J. S. Mill, and corresponds to what other logicians call the distinction between extension and intension, or that between reference and meaning. Denotation is the object designated by a singular term or the class of objects referred to by a general term. Connotation is the attribute of an object, which permits the term to apply correctly to the object. Words with different connotations can have the same denotation. For instance, “the capital of the United Kingdom” and “the largest city in the United Kingdom” denote the same object, although they connote different attributes. A name, such as a proper name, may have a denotation but no connotation. The idea that some terms denote but do not connote and therefore do not have meaning is crucial for Russell’s theory of definite description. “If we know that the proposition ‘a is the so-and-so’ is true, i.e. that a is so-and-so and nothing else is, we call a the denotation of the phrase ‘the so-and-so’.” Russell, Collected Papers of Bertrand Russell, vol. VI -- denoting phrases Logic, philosophy of language Term introduced and analyzed in Russell’s important article “On Denoting.” It refers to definite and indefinite descriptions, including those which may denote one definite object, e.g. “the present King of England,” those which may be denoting phrases but do not denote anything, e.g. “the present King of France,” and those which may denote ambiguously, e.g. “a man,” “some