The Hypostatization of the Connotatum

Commentary of Chapter 6 of Language and Magic by Izutsu Toshihiko

Photo by Paul Zoetemeijer on Unsplash

It’s the time of the week again for our dive into the concepts of Magic and Language. Today, I will continue my commentary on Language and Magic by Izutsu Toshihiko by looking at chapter 6. You can read my previous commentary as well as a series introduction at the links below

Language and Magic Series

Chapter 6

Chapter 5 ends with Izutsu focusing in on connotation as a likely place for magical language. The goal of this chapter is to clarify the concept of connotation.

Izutsu breaks down connotation into four parts:

1. Referential

2. Intuitive

3. Emotional

4. Structural

He believes that each of these four parts could lead to magical language. Izutsu spends the entirety of chapter 6 on the referential aspect of connotation, focusing on the other aspects in future chapters.

Referential Connotation

Reference is the part of connotation that has a solid conceptual core of meaning. This is to say that there is a consistent core set of objects that a word refers to.

For example, the word “dog” is usually used to refer to a small range of animals of a similar kind with four legs and a tail. “Dog” can, of course, be used to mean various other things, but the general usage case remains unchanged.