______ messages have more or less the same meaning for the audience.

Denotative messages carry the same literal meaning for everyone in the audience.

Denotation is the direct, dictionary meaning of a term, fixed and public.

Because it points to the object itself, it varies little from person to person.

Connotation, by contrast, adds personal and emotional associations that differ across hearers.

Shared, uniform interpretation therefore rests on denotative content.