Relationships of Signs

Paradigmatic Relationship

Syntagmatic Relationship
 Paradigmatic Relationship
A paradigmatic relation is a relation that holds
between elements of the same category, i.e.
elements that can be substituted for each
other.

Every item of language has a paradigmatic

relationship with every other item which can
be substituted for it (such as cat with dog).
 Syntagmatic Relationship

• Syntagmatic relation applies to relations

holding between elements that are combined
with each other, items which occur within the
same construction.

(The cat sat on the mat, ‘cat’ with ‘the’ and ‘sat on the mat’)
• Two parts:
a) Paradigm
b) Paradigmatic Relations

c) Syntagm
d) Syntagmatic Relations
• All the components that can be substituted
are called paradigms

• All the components or words that are in the

relationship are Syntagms
 Paradigmatic relations
• A paradigm is a set of associated signifiers or
signifieds which are all members of some
defining category, but in which each is
significantly different

• Needs a given context for substitution

• Choosing one means excluding the other

 Syntagmatic Relationship
• A Syntagm is an orderly combination of
interacting signifiers which forms a
meaningful whole within a text.

• Language is a syntagm of words

• It helps to study the rules of combination of a

language
 Continued…
• Two types of syntagmatic relationship-

• Spatial (painting, drawing, photography)

• Sequential (story, narratives, auditory signifiers)

• There are shown in Axis
-Vertical Axis (concerning substitution)
-Horizontal Axis (concerning position)

Both of them start working by taking the

language as a whole
 Examples

That dog jumped over the fence

The cat slept under the bed
The bird flew through the window
 The Commutation Test
• This test helps to find distinctive signifiers and
their significances
• Any change in the signifier level will definitely
change the signified level also.
• RJ first used it in Prague school to decide the
distinctive features of the phonemes
• Later it started being widely used in ‘Textual
Analysis’
 Stages of CT
• Divide text into minimal significant units
• Group them into paradigmatic classes
• Select a particular signifier of a text
• Consider its alternatives
• Evaluate the signifiers to know the most
suitable one
• The chosen one will help to choose
syntagmatic unit
 4 Types
*Paradigmatic Transformations
-substitution (the use of a close-up rather than a mid-shot, a substitution in
age, sex, class or ethnicity, substituting objects, a different caption for a
photograph, etc.)

-Transposition (the action of transposing something. "transposition of

word order"

*Syntagmatic Transformations
-Addition
-Deletion
 Oppositions
• Binary oppositions-
-mutually exclusive (Alive-dead, ….)
-Antonyms (light-dark, black- white…)