Branches of linguistics. Synchronic vs diachronic approaches to the language study. Lexicology – ‘the science of the word’ Lexicon

Paradigmatic relations exist between units of the language system outside the strings where they co-occur. They are based on the criteria of selection and distribution of linguistic elements. Paradigmatic relations determining the vocabulary system are based on the interdependence of words within the vocabulary: synonymy, antonymy, hyponymy, meronymy.

F. de Saussure called paradigmatic relationships associative relationships, because they represent the relationship between individual elements in specific environment.

It was the Danish linguist Louis Hjelmslev who replaced the term associative relations for paradigmatic relations.