On Language: Immigrant, denote rather than connote

In the conclusion to my column on “illegal immigrants” I suggested that all of us in our country, with the exception of our Indigenous population, are the descendants of immigrants who came here from somewhere else.

But now I want to examine that phrase from a different perspective, and that is the distinction between denotation and connotation, a topic I have discussed before. Here’s a quick refresher: our language communicates on two levels, denoting and connoting. When it denotes, it points out what we are talking about. If I say, “That tree is in full fall colors,” on the denotative level my words only indicate what I am talking about, namely, a particular tree whose leaves have turned.