WHAT IS IT THAT IS BEING DIFFERENTIATED BY SEMANTIC DIFFERENTIAL

Directs theoretical comment to that aspect of meaning which accrues to the semantic differential technique. The usual distinction between denotative and connotative/affective meaning is questioned, especially as employed in an article by J. Kuusinen (see 43:(10) which extends the semantic differential structure to the area of personal judgments. The distinction is argued to be nugatory when based either upon commonality of responding or lexical analysis of terms typically assigned to the semantic differential dimensions. Instead, a semantic feature approach invoking the notion of privilege of occurrence is suggested as an explanation of the semantic differential adjective structure so reliably obtained in diverse domains of application. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved). © 1969 American Psychological Association.