ABSTRACT
Semantic prosody (sometimes termed ‘discourse prosody’) is the concept that certain forms carry with them positive, negative or neutral shadings. The notion that language carries connotations is well established in relation to lexis. If you consider the word ‘skinny’ when it is applied to someone (‘he looks really skinny!’), it clearly has a negative shading when contrasted with the word ‘slim’. Those working with lexis have long argued that the concept of synonyms is a tricky one for precisely this kind of reason; we could argue that ‘slim’ and ‘skinny’ are synonyms in that they mean the same thing, but clearly the words carry different meanings when they are actually used. The same principle, that language carries connotations, applies to grammatical structures. Consider the two examples below.
I added the potassium to the water.
The potassium was added to the water.
