Saaed (1997:3 in Mamvura, 2014) defines semantics as the “study of words and sentences).
Portner (2006:137) views semantics as a field within linguistics which “focuses on the literal meaning of words, phrases, and sentences; it is concerned with how grammatical processes build complex meanings out of simpler ones.” Mamvura (2014:118) says, “Semantics studies meaning without making any reference to the speakers and hearers. The present study on personal names in as far as they reflect the gender status of the name bearer obtained a lot of insight from semantics that studies ‘significant meaning’ since the meanings of personal names will be looked at as they relate to gender. It deals with what a namer might want personal names to reflect and in the present study the namer will want the name attributes to do with gender.
70 These attributes are normally determined by society in which the namer is found and after all names are only “matters of convention, convenience as there is no necessary relationship between the sound/shape of the word and what the word stands for (Condon, 1975:33 in Makondo, 2009).
In the present study the meaning of personal names was looked at in as far as they reflect the gender status of the name bearers. Semantics differs from pragmatics which relates to speakers, hearers and context.Saaed in Pfukwa (2007:134) says that semantics looks at meaning abstracted from users. Pfukwa (2007) says semantics is a complex phenomenon involving different perspectives and approaches, for example, there is the linguist’s approach, the philosopher’s approach and the onomasticians approach. Louwrens (1993) in Pfukwa (2007) says that the linguist usually focuses on the first three levels of semantics, the lexical, the denotative and the connotative level.The onomasticians is mainly interested in the three levels of semantics but goes beyond into descriptive backing which is one of the main theories which informs the present study and is closely related to pragmatics which is also handy to this study.
According to Mamvura (2014) semantics treats the name as lacking sense, but have a special kind of meaning which marks a great distinction between them and common nouns. It is this
‘special kind of meaning’ which is found in personal names which may contain gender connotations. Semantics comes in handy in the analysis of the referential role and denotation of names because according to Saaed (1997:27) “the simplest case of nominals which have reference might seem to be names”. What is obvious is that semantics acknowledges that names have some symbolic meanings in addition to their obvious referential role.
The lexical meaning of a word is the basic or original meaning and is also called literal meaning (Louwrens, 1994 in Pfukwa, 2007).When studying personal names, usually the literal meaning of the name should be the starting point, other aspects about the name follows. Pfukwa (2007) says the lexical meaning of a name is concerned with the original meaning, before the word becomes a name. During this level the name is still regarded as a pure linguistic item which can be analysed linguistically (Koopman, 1994; Louwrens, 1993 in Pfukwa, 2007). However, Nicolaisen (1976:6) says, “As soon as a word becomes a name it is cast loose from its lexical and semantic moorings”. Pfukwa (2007) says that when a word acquires onomastics attributes, its semantic properties change and one of these changes is described as denotation.
Denotation is defined by Crystal (1980:109 in Pfukwa) as:
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“A term used in SEMANTICS as part of classifications of types of meaning; as opposed to connotation…involves the relationship between a LINGUISTIC UNIT…and the non-linguistic entities to which it refers…it is thus equivalent to REFERENTIAL meaning. Denotation points to an object being referred to. A name has referential or meaning where it points or denotes a person or an object.”
This definition by Crystal (1980) is in line with Meiring’s (1980) argument that the importance of a name lies in what it refers to. Denotation can be seen as a transitional point in the transformation of a lexical item into a full onomastics item.John Stuart Mills’ (1806-1873) in Meiring (1980:67) says, “Proper names are not connotative; they denote the person’s personality, and this is very important”. Nicolaisen (1978: 40) says, “Words connote, and names denote.”Personal names which were found to be common among girls such as Sarudazai (choose) Nyarai (Be ashamed), Sekai (scorn), Rowesai (one who causes othersto be bewitched).
Such names, through their meanings, seem to paint women with certain attributes as reflected in the meanings of the names.On the other hand, personal names such as Shingai (Be brave),Farai (Rejoice), Pindukai (Prosper) were very common for boys and they have denotative meanings which are very clear as what is expected of boys in the Zezuru society.
Pfukwa (2007) says in the post- lexical phase name assumes referential functions and at this stage it begins to collect connotations. Shona personal names are pregnant with gender connotations. Crystal (1980:82) defines connotation as:
“A term used in SEMANTICS as part of classification of types of meaning; as opposed to DENOTATION. Its main application is with reference to the emotional associations (personal or communal) which are suggested by, or are part of the meaning of a LINGUISTIC UNIT especially a LEXICAL ITEM…Alternative items for connotative meaning include AFFECTIVE and EMOTIVE.”
When looking at connotation, the meaning of a word loses its clear-cut literal and referential qualities that are found in lexical and denotative meaning. It moves to the abstract and psychological realms that are difficult to configure. The lexical item by now has lost its semantic link with its referent and it becomes an onomastics label. Pfukwa (2007:49) says, “At this stage connotation will now be firmly saddled in the onomastics realm where names carry their meaning and significance by association with or sometimes by the emotions they evoke”.
In the case of Zezuru names, it is these emotions that will be gender controlled that will bring
72 about gendered names such as Shingai (be courageous) for a boy child. Such a name is normally given to a baby boy and it will be expressing the parents’ wish to see their family rising to the occasion in terms of their economic well-being. Thus, it will be encouraging the family to work hard for them to improve their lives. On the other hand, the baby girl maybe given a name like Nyarai (be ashamed).This name will convey a strong message to those people who will be wishing the family bad luck, but the family go on to overcome all odds and prosper.
Many onomasticians, for instance Meiring (1993), Nicolaisen (1987), Raper (1987) and Neethling (1995) link connotation with onomastics. On this idea Nicolaisen (1978:48) says,
“Naming is a process by which words become names through association...using a name involves knowledge of the appropriate associations.”
In connection with the idea of connotation and association, among the Zezuru people, the element of association is also gendered to the extent that a person is given a name which is associated with his or her gender group. It is in connotation that the concept of descriptive backing comes in which extends the concept of meaning of a name by viewing it as a loose collection of “associations” around the name (Pfukwa 200