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2.2 The Classification of “Meanings” 
Leech created seven types of meaning (1981, 9): 
1)
Conceptual meaning 
2)
Connotative meaning 
3)
Social meaning 
4)
Affective meaning 
5)
Reflected meaning 
6)
Collocative meaning 
7)
Thematic meaning 
2.2.1 Conceptual Meaning 
As Leech underlines in “Semantics. The Study of Meaning”, the emphasis in this 
classification should be put on the logical or conceptual meaning (also called “denotative” or 
“cognitive”) (1981, 9). The reason for this is his statement that conceptual meaning “is widely 
assumed to be the central factor in linguistic communication”. (Leech 1981, 9) 
He goes further to explain that conceptual meaning plays an enormous role in 
linguistic communication for it “has a complex and sophisticated organization which may be 
compared with, and cross-related to, a similar organization on the syntactic and phonological 
levels of language”. (Leech 1981, 9) This is connected, according to Leech, with “two 
principles of all linguistic patterning” (1981, 9), i.e. the principle of 
contrastiveness
and the 
principle of 
structure
. (1981, 9) 
Leech asserts that contrastiveness is based on the classification of sounds in 
phonology, namely the binary opposition of characteristics of sounds – positive (present) and 
negative (absent) features. He depicts that using the example of the sound 
/b/
and, 
furthermore, with the example of the meaning of the word “
woman
”. According to these two 
comparable subjects, the sound 
/b/
can be described as +bilabial, + voice, + stop, - nasal, 
whereas the word “
woman
” includes following elements: + human, - male, + adult. (1981, 10) 
The principle of 
structure
, on the other hand, is in this case simply described as “the 
principle by which larger linguistic units are built up out of smaller units”. (Leech 1981, 10)

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In addition to this, Leech expresses that, in order to comprehend or generate a 
linguistic utterance, at least three levels of language need to be present. These are: A) the level 
of phonology (a phonological representation), B) the level of syntax (a syntactic presentation) 
and C) the level of semantics. In what order these three levels are going to be used depends on 
the role in linguistic communication. As a speaker, the process starts from the level of 
semantics, undergoes structural formation on the level of syntax and becomes phonologically 
formed. This C-B-A order is called “
encoding
”. Unlike in “speaker-situation”, the whole 
process is upside-down in the role of the listener when the order is A-B-C, i.e. grasping the 
phonological structure, thereafter the syntactic one and in the end realizing the meaning of the 
utterance. The A-B-C order is then called “
decoding
”. (1981, 11) However, this idea has 
progressed over years and therefore this Leech’s structure can be regarded as somewhat 
obsolete.
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