Social component of lexical connotation

In the paper the concept of the social component of lexical connotation is introduced. This component of connotation is considered as an attribution of word to one of the social language variants. The social component of word lexical connotation is defined by the word functioning in the speech of the social group which is the social base of the social variant of language. The analysis of the experimental material shows that in the conscious of native speakers the word can have either one or several social identifications. Comprehension of social components of word connotation depends on functions and status of social variants of language. The social variants with the most common and the most specific functions (system extremes) and corresponding to them social connotation components of words are identified by native speakers best of all.