Paradigmatic and syntagmatic analysis

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Paradigmatic and syntagmatic analysis
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Paradigmatic analysis
vertical metaphor selective/associative bipolar
oppositions meaning by context (media, genre)
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Syntagmatic analysis
horizontal metonymy combinative composed of
paradigms narrative
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Vertical / horizontal
PARADIGMS
PARADIGMS
NARRATIVE
SYNTAGMS
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Paradigmatic and syntagmatic

• Paradigmatic
• A dissimilar thing that can be exchanged for the
  thing of which the value is to be determined
• Syntagmatic
• Similar things that can be compared with the
  thing of which the value is to be determined

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Paradigmatic analysis

• Paradigmatic analysis is the analysis of
  paradigms embedded in the text rather than of the
  surface structure (syntax) of the text which is
  termed syntagmatic analysis. Paradigmatic
  analysis often uses commutation tests, i.e.
  analysis by substituting words of the same type
  or class to calibrate shifts in connotation.

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Syntagmatic analysis, syntax

• In semiotics syntagmatic analysis is analysis of
  syntax or surface structure (Syntagmatic
  structure), rather than paradigms as in
  paradigmatic analysis. This is often done through
  commutation tests.
• Syntax, originating from the Greek words s??
  (syn, meaning "co-" or "together") and t????
  (táxis, meaning "sequence, order, arrangement"),
  can in linguistics be described as the study of
  the rules, or "patterned relations" that govern
  the way the words in a sentence come together. It
  concerns how different words (which, going back
  to Dionysios Thrax, are categorized as nouns,
  adjectives, verbs, etc.) are combined into
  clauses, which, in turn, are combined into
  sentences.

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Commutation test

• According to Daniel Chandler, the commutation
  test may involve any of four basic
  transformations which, to a greater or lesser
  extent, involve modification of the syntagm
• Paradigmatic transformations
• substitution
• transposition
• Syntagmatic transformations
• addition
• deletion.

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Syntagms and paradigms

• Syntagms defined as a coherent sequence of signs
• A sentence (Jack jumped over the candlestick.)
• Whole story lines as in sit coms
• Paradigmatic analysis looks at sets of signs and
  how they come to stand for something else

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Paradigmatic and syntagmatic (semiotic) analysis

• The value of a term within a text depends on the
  contrasts with alternative terms that have not
  been chosen (paradigmatic or associative
  relations)
• The value of a term depends on the relations with
  the other terms that precede and follow it
  (syntagmatic relations).
• A paradigm, or associative set, is a group of
  terms that are related or similar, and different.

Observations taken from Gemma Penn, Semiotic
Analysis of Still Images in Bauer, Martin W. and
Gaskell, George, Eds. Qualitative Researching
with Text, image and Sound A practical Handbook.
Sage London, 2000, p. 227ff
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Paradigmatic and syntagmatic (semiotic) analysis

• The meaning of a term is delimited by the set of
  unchosen terms and by the way in which the chosen
  terms are combined with each other to create a
  meaningful whole.

Observations taken from Gemma Penn, Semiotic
Analysis of Still Images in Bauer, Martin W. and
Gaskell, George, Eds. Qualitative Researching
with Text, image and Sound A practical Handbook.
Sage London, 2000, p. 227ff
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Example Alices hat is green.
Syntagm

• People Clothing to be Color
• Alices hat is green.
• My coat isnt yellow.
• The vicars pyjamas were pink.

Paradigm
The value of each term is determined by its place
in the syntagm--by the other terms in the
sentence that precede and follow it. Also by the
set of alternative terms that might replace it.
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Syntagmatic and Associative Relations

• In discourse, on the one hand, words acquire
  relations based on the linear nature of language
  because they are chained together. ...
• Combinations supported by linearity are syntagms.
  The syntagm is always composed of two or more
  consecutive units .... In the syntagm a term
  acquires its value only because it stands in
  opposition to everything that precedes or follows
  it, or to both.
• Outside discourse, on the other hand, words
  acquire relations of a different kind. Those
  that have something in common are associated in
  memory, resulting groups are marked by diverse
  relations. ...
• We see that the co-ordinations formed outside
  discourse differ strikingly from those formed
  inside discourse. Those formed outside discourse
  are not supported by linearity. Their seat is in
  the brain they are a part of the inner
  storehouse that makes up the language of each
  speaker. They are associative relations. (p.
  123).

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Syntagmatic and Associative Relations
Associative (Paradigmatic) Axis
C
C
C
Syntagmatic Axis
A
B
C
D
E
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Linguistic Values

• Values are composed of
• A dissimilar thing that can be exchanged for the
  thing of which the value is to be determined
• Similar things that can be compared with the
  thing of which the value is to be determined

Signified
Signified
Signified
Signifier
Signifier
Signifier