Associative meaning is a label applied to certain kinds of associations with words, and the internalization of words and phrases, by readers or listeners. This category of meaning, as a popular label, can be traced back to a linguist named Geoffrey Leech in the 1970s. Leech developed the broader category of associative meaning into six individual subcategories that help to analyze how humans understand language.
As a linguistic and psychological term, associative meaning is part of the larger category of semantics. Semantics is the study of how people attach meaning to language. In this case, meaning is attached to language in an associative way, meaning that some of the connections that language users draw may not be directly referenced in text or speech.
Within the general category of associative meaning, the six subcategories detail the ways in which people might associate ideas with a given work. The first one is connotative meaning, which is a way to describe some kinds of indirect references that people commonly make in associating a word with a particular idea. Another category is collocative meaning, where people typically associate words that are often presented together in text or speech.
Other categories of associative meaning include social meaning, affective meaning, reflective meaning, and thematic meaning. Social meaning generally applies to associations that are related to interpersonal relationships, where affective meaning largely relates to the emotions of the parties involved in communication. Reflective meaning relies on the interplay between multiple uses or associations for a single word or phrase, and thematic meaning as described by linguistic experts, often has to do with the sequence of words or phrases and how they come together to present a unified theme.
All of the categories of associative meaning are helpful for presenting a semantical analysis of any text or speech. Individuals might use this kind of resource in literary criticism, or in a broader analysis of a piece of fiction or other literary work. Psychologists might use associative meaning in various tests and other tools to explore an individual psyche, or in research to apply to collective mentalities for a certain community. The idea of associative meaning can generally help researchers to construct a more comprehensive picture of how certain communications are received by an audience, and how individuals might “use” words or phrases in different contexts.