Final answer:
Connotation refers to the associations that a word's meaning has within a particular speech community, including emotions and other reactions elicited by the word based on shared cultural experiences and ideologies.
Step-by-step explanation:
The primary association a word has for members of a particular linguistic community is known as the word's connotation. This includes the meanings a reader or listener associates with a word based on their background, experiences, and the speech community they belong to. Such communities have distinctive vocabularies and patterns of use, which demonstrate their identity and cultural affiliations. For example, a vernacular dialect can be associated with specific social categories such as ethnicity or age, and over time, it can develop unique linguistic features that distinguish it from other dialects or even evolve into a separate language.
Linguistics studies these relationships and how they impact communication within and between different speech communities. Famous linguists like William Labov, and concepts like the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, have explored how language shapes our understanding of reality through its culturally specific words and expressions.