4. Paradigmatic and syntagmatic relations between
language units.
Crucial for the systemic description of language are the
two fundamental types of relations between lingual units:
syntagmatic and paradigmatic.
Syntagmatic relations are immediate linear relations where
lingual units form various lingual strings, sequences, or
constructions; in other words, lingual units co-occur in the same
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actual sequences. E.g.: He started laughing. In this sentence we
can point out syntagmatic, or linear relations between the sounds
[h+i:] = [hi:]; [s+t+a:+t+i+d] = [sta:tid]; etc.; the morphemes are
also connected syntagmatically within words: start+ed = started;
laugh+ing = laughing; the combinations of words form syntagmas
within phrases and sentences: He + started; started + laughing.
Besides, the sentence can be connected with other sentences by
syntagmatic relations in the process of communication, in speech,
e.g.: He started laughing. Everybody thought it was rather odd.
The term ―syntagmatic relations‖ is derived from the word
―syntagma‖, i.e. a linear combination of units of the same level.
There are four main types of notional syntagmas:
predicative (the combination of a subject and a predicate),
objective (the combination of a verb and its object), attributive
(the combination of a noun and its attribute), adverbial (the
combination of a modified notional word, such as a verb,
adjective, or adverb, with its adverbial modifier).
Since these relations can be observed in actual utterances,
they are also defined by the Latin term ―in praesentia‖ (―in the
presence‖, present in the same sequence).
In real speech in one and the same utterance different types
of syntagmatic relations are realized, depending on the speaker‘s
intention and communicative purpose.
The other type of relations, opposed to syntagmatic, are
called paradigmatic. The term is derived from the word
―paradigm‖ and denotes the relations between elements in
paradigms in the system of language. Ferdinand de Saussure
called these relations ‗associative relations‘, implying the way
different linguistic units are arranged and associated with each
other in human minds. Classical grammatical paradigms are those
making up grammatical categories of words, or, morphological
categories, e.g., the category of number or case of the noun: in
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Ukrainian – стіл – стола – столу – столом – на столі; in
English – toy – toys; tooth – teeth; children – children‘s, etc.
Paradigm, in most general terms, is a system of variants of
the same unit, which is called ‗the invariant‘; paradigmatic
relations are the relations between the variants of the lingual unit
within a paradigm. Not only words, but all lingual units are
organized in the system of language paradigmatically according to
their own categories; for example, sentences may be organized in
paradigms according to the category ―the purpose of
communication‖, in such paradigms declarative, interrogative and
imperative sentence patterns of the same sentence invariant are
opposed, e.g.: He laughed. – Did he laugh? – Let him laugh.
Since these relations can‘t be observed in actual speech they are
also described as relations ―in absentia‖ (―in the absence‖). [5]
Paradigmatic relations coexist with syntagmatic relations
in such a way that some sort of syntagmatic connection is
necessary for the realisation of any paradigmatic series. This is
especially evident -in a classical grammatical paradigm which
presents a productive series of forms each consisting of a
syntagmatic connection of two elements: one common for the
whole of the series (stem), the other specific for every individual
form in the series (grammatical feature – inflexion, suffix,
auxiliary word). Grammatical paradigms express various
grammatical categories.
The minimal paradigm consists of two form-stages. This
kind of paradigm we see, for instance, in the expression of the
category of number: boy – boys. A more complex paradigm can
be divided into component paradigmatic series, i.e. into the
corresponding sub-paradigms (cf. numerous paradigmatic series
constituting the system of the finite verb). In othe r words, with
paradigms, the same as with any other systemically organised
materia l, macro- and micro-series are to be discriminated.
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Paradigmatic relations exist not only in grammar, but in
the phonetical and lexical systems of language as well. For
example, paradigmatic relations exist between vowels and
consonants, voiced and voiceless consonants, etc.; between
synonyms and antonyms, in topical groups of words, word-
building models, etc. But paradigmatic relations are of primary
importance for grammar, as the grammar of language is above all
systemic.
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