ABSTRACT
Translation is concerned with meaning. But, as has already become very clear, the term ‘meaning’ is elastic and indeterminate, especially when applied to a whole text. This is true even of denotative meaning (also known as cognitive, propositional or literal meaning). Denotative meaning is that kind of meaning that relates directly to the range of ‘things’ (whether physical, emotional or more abstract) that are conventionally referred to by a word or phrase in a particular sense. Thus, the fact that ‘window’ by convention refers to a particular kind of aperture in a wall or roof is a matter of denotative meaning.
