The syntagmatic and paradigmatic relationships of the word - Word и Excel - помощь в работе с программами

Paradigmatic
and syntagmatic relations are understood as basic
linguistic relationships describing
the complex structure of a language system.
This distinction is relevant to all levels of description. It was
introduced by the Swiss linguist Ferdinard de Saussure in 1916 as a
generalisation of the traditional concepts of a paradigm and a
syntagm.

Paradigm
(Gr. parádeigma
‘pattern,
model’) is a set of homogeneous forms opposed to each other
according to their semantic and formal features.

Syntagm
(Gr. sýntagma
‘that which is put together in order’) is a structured syntactic
sequence of linguistic elements formed by segmentation which can
consist of sounds, words, phrases, clauses, or entire sentences.

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.

Syntagmatic
relations are immediate linear links between the units in a segmental
sequence. Syntagmatic relations are horizontal since they are based
on the linear character of speech.

In
psycholinguistics these terms are used in a different sense.

The term
paradigmatic
relations
denotes
the mental associations between words which form part of a set of
mutually exclusive items, e.g. black
responds
with white.

The term
syntagmatic
relations
refers to mental associations between words which frequently occur
together, e.g. black
magic / tie / sheep.

27. Synonyms. Types of synonyms. Sources of synonymy.

Synonyms
(Gr. syn
‘with’, ónyma
‘name’) are two or more words belonging to the same part of
speech and possessing a common denotative semantic component,
interchangeable at least in some contexts without any considerable
alteration in sense, but differing in morphemic composition, phonemic
shape, shades of meaning, connotations, style, valency and idiomatic
use, e.g.:strange
– (unusual or unexpected); queer
– (unusual or unexpected), odd
– (unusual or unexpected), weird
– (unusual or unexpected), peculiar
(unusual or unexpected),

The
synonymic dominant is the general term of its kind potentially
containing the specific features rendered by all the other members of
the group. It is characterised by:

high
frequency value;

broad
combinability;

broad
general meaning;

lack of
connotations;

stylistic
neutrality;

it may
substitute for other synonyms at least in some contexts;

it is
often used to define other synonyms in dictionary definitions.

Lexical
synonyms are similar in meaning in the language system.

Contextual
synonyms are similar in meaning only under some specific contextual
conditions, cf. the following sentences:

I’ll go
to the shop to
buy
some bread.

I’ll go
to the shop to
get
some bread.

I can’t
bear
him anymore.

I can’t
stand
him anymore.

Absolute
synonyms coincide in all their shades of meaning and in all their
stylistic characteristics, e.g. word-building
– word-formation;

Ideographic
synonyms convey the same concept but differ in shades of meaning,
i.e. in their denotative component;

interesting
– (exciting), (makes you want to know more sth);

fascinating
– (exciting), (makes you want to know more sth), [extremely];

intriguing
– (exciting), (makes you want to know more sth), [there is sth you
find difficult to understand or explain];

absorbing –
(exciting), (makes you want to know more sth), [holds your attention
for a long time];

gripping –
(exciting), (makes you want to know more sth), [holds your attention
for a long time], [you want to know what is going to happen next];

Stylistic
synonyms differ in their stylistic characteristics, i.e. in their
connotative component, e.g. head
(neutral) – attic
(stylistic).

Ideographic-stylistic
synonyms differ in shades of meaning and belong to different styles,
e.g. to
see
‘to have or use the powers of sight and understanding’ – to
behold (elevated,
archaic) ‘to look at that which is seen’.

development
of the native elements, mostly denoting different shades of common
meaning, e.g. fast
– speedy – swift;
handsome – pretty – lovely;

adaptation
of words from dialects and varieties of English, e.g. dark
– murk (Northern
English); girl
– lass (Scottish
English); wireless
– radio (American
English);

foreign
borrowings, e.g. to
ask
(native) –
to
question
(French) –
to
interrogate
(Latin); to
end
(native) – to
finish
(French) – to
complete
(Latin);

euphemisms,
e.g. drunk
– intoxicated – tired and emotional;
to
kill – to finish – to make away with sb – to remove;

etymological
doublets, e.g. shade
– shadow;
canal
– channel;

productive
word-forming processes, e.g. await
– wait;
memorandum
– memo;
resistance
– fight back.

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Источник

Linguistic units are intimately interrelated by two types of relationship: syntagmatic and paradigmatic; the former are directly observable, they are present, while the latter must be intuited, they are absent. Both complement each other and cannot be conceived separately.

Definitions

Syntagmatic relations: they are combinatorial relations in the presence of other linguistic elements, they occur between the successive elements of the statement, they are present. They are expansively related one after another according to the positional order of the elements of a sentence. They are relationships of meaning that each linguistic sign maintains with the remaining ones of different grammatical categories, either in the same phrase or in the sentence. Both syntagmatic and paradigmatic relationship are mandatory to understand
Paradigmatic relations: they are the relations of meaning existing between the signs of the same syntactic category, they are the associative relations that exist between the units of the system, that is, between the simultaneous units (they form the paradigm), they are absent. .

Syntagmatic and paradigmatic structures

Syntagmatic structure : set of words grouped around a nucleus with the same syntactic and sense function. It is any syntactic structure consisting of one or more words. The combination occurs in the presence of other linguistic elements.

Example:

Friend – SN My friend – SN My good friend – SN My good friend from my school – SN My good friend from my school the most playful – SN My good friend from my school the most playful as my dog

Paradigmatic structure : it is the vertical relationship of the signs due to the absence of other linguistic elements. Continuously they are in paradigmatic relation all the disinheritments of a verbal radical, where one appears, it can appear, replacing it, any of the others of the verbal paradigm.

A paradigm is a series of elements that can occupy the same situation, taking into account that they can substitute each other and that the use of one of them excludes the use of all others in the paradigm. They are, therefore, in opposition, the value of each element appears in opposition to the others of the paradigm, it constitutes a closed set or finished in synchrony: when using the remarkable word, it is excluded outstanding, approved and suspense, since the four terms can occupy that position, form a paradigm at the semantic level. Example:

The words Mesa and Peso are paradigmatic.

In modern linguistics, the set of units that can appear and exchange in a given context is designated by this name.

art.	Sub.	Adj. Calif.	P	Adj.	Sub.	Verb	Adj.	Sub.	Adv
He	boy	applied	from	me	school	win	some	diplomas	Yesterday
The	girl	good	from	you	House	rail	some	tablecloths	Always
The	students	responsible	from	its	home	will do	some	arrangements	tomorrow
The	ladies	smart	from	me	Institute	they will sing	nail	songs	Today
The	woman	nice	from	you	living place	purchase	various	toys	forever
The	girls	affectionate	from	its	school	will do	others	drawings	today

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A paradigm is a set of associated concepts which are members of a category, and are represented by words. For example: sat, fat, hat, mat, bat.

What is a paradigmatic relation?

Paradigmatic relation is concerned with the way words are grouped together into categories, like nouns, verbs, adjectives etc. Words in the same group, or word class, can be exchanged for each other in a sentence: ‘The dog/cat/chimpanzee bit me ‘.

Let’s look at some of the theory behind this idea.

Semiotics, saussure, and paradigmatic delations

‘Paradigmatic relation’ is closely related to semiotics. Semiotics is about how meanings are produced by signs. The word semeion means ‘sign’ in greek.

Any sign is made up of two parts, a concept and sound-image. We do not mean a sound like a dog’s bark, but the sensory impression the word gives us. Signs explain the whole concept of the word and the meanings we attach to it. Language is then considered by Saussurean linguistics to be a self-enclosed system. Saussure replaces word ‘concept’ with signified and ‘sound-image’ with signifier. The word ‘tree’ has two parts: it is a sound (/ tri: /) and it is an idea (whatever you think of when you hear the word ‘tree’. The sound (/ tri: /) is the signifier and the idea-in-your-head is the signified.

Fig. 1 — A sign is made up of two parts.

Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913) is considered the founder of structuralist linguistics. Structuralist linguistics analyses the structure of language, and how meaning is embedded in words and sentences.

In his studies, Saussure offered three main ideas:

A distinction between langue (the abstract language) and parole (language we use in everyday life).
Language is arbitrary. We live in a global world, which means different languages use different words when referring to the same object. For example, in English we say dog, the French say chien, and Russians say собака. There is no reason why abstract concepts in language should be fixed.
Signs gain meaning from their relationship with other signs. This leads to syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations.

Tip: Saussure offered theoretical reconstructions of the Proto-Indo-European language, which is an ancestor of the Indo-European language family that includes English, French, Russian, and Spanish!

Another way to think about signs is this picture:

Fig. 2 — In English, this means «this is not a pipe.»

You may know this, but this is not an actual pipe. We have randomly assigned meaning to the painting of a pipe. But it is not a pipe. It is a painting of a pipe. Magritte’s painting subverts our expectations about objects and their names.

The choice of signs and their arrangement in a sentence is crucial to understanding language analysis and semiotic relationships.

Paradigmatic and syntagmatic relations

It may be easy to get these two terms mixed up…Let’s take a look at the differences between the two!

Syntagmatic relations

Syntagmatic relation refers to the relationship between words in a sentence. Any alterations to the word combination can change the meaning of the sentence:

Paul is bathing a dog.
A dog is bathing Paul.

Both sentences have the same components but in a different order. In other words, the syntagmatic relation explains how the word’s position in a sentence determines the meaning of the sentence.

Paul + is bathing + a dog

A dog + is bathing + Paul

A Syntagm is a ‘linguistic unit’ in a relationship with other such units in a particular sequence. Individual syntagms are the building blocks of text. Syntagms are grouped to form words, words are grouped to form phrases, and phrases are grouped to form sentences, etc. Paragraphs and chapters are considered a syntagm of words, and the grouping is sometimes called a chain.

Paradigmatic relations

Paradigmatic relation involves the differentiation and selection of words in a sentence. Look at this sentence:

The | man | cried

We can see how words can act as building blocks that make up the sentence. However, since paradigmatic relations involve substitutions and selections, we can replace a word in the sentence to make different combinations or meanings.

The | man | sang

Or:

The | man | died

Or even:

The | boy | cried.

Paradigmatic relationships are sets of associated words (paradigms) which are all members of some defining category.

Paradigmatic relations examples

Below are some more examples of paradigmatic relations:

↑ Paradigmatic Relations ↓	Subject	verb	Object
Determiner	Adjective	Noun	Noun
The	beautiful	woman	buys	some bread
old	lady	buys	some cakes
handsome	man	sold	some vegetables
tall	boy	is eating	a hotdog

As you can see, there are several possible variations of ‘The beautiful woman buys the bread’:

The old lady buys some cakes.
The handsome man sold some vegetables.
The tall boy is eating a hotdog.

We can conclude that:

Paradigmatic relation describes a substitution relationship between words with the same word class. The substitution occurs on a vertical axis, as shown in the diagrams above and below.
Syntagmatic relation is about the relationship/position between words in a sentence. The syntagmatic relation occurs on the horizontal axis.

↑ Paradigmatic relations ↓	← Syntagmatic Relations →
Subject	verb	Object
Determiner	Adjective	Noun	Noun
The	beautiful	woman	buys	some brioche
At	unattractive	lady	buys	some bread
That	handsome	man	ate	some chicken

Paradigmatic relation:

Let’s take ‘The beautiful woman buys some brioche’.

The beautiful woman can choose to buy some bread or chicken instead of brioche.
Brioche, bread, and chicken are parts of a paradigm of food that the beautiful woman can buy.
The items in a paradigm share some unifying quality, and the paradigm is the set or category they belong to (food).
Some words from the sentence can also be substituted vertically: ‘An unattractive (antonym) lady (synonymy) buys some bread (hyponymy)’.

Syntagmatic relation:

Let’s take ‘That handsome man ate some chicken’.

The combination of ‘that handsome man + ate + some chicken’ forms a syntagmatic relationship.
If the word position is changed, it also changes the meaning of the sentence, eg ‘Some chicken ate the handsome man’.
Furthermore, the linear relationship also occurs at phrase-level: it is ‘handsome + man’, not ‘handsome + woman’.

What are the different types of paradigmatic relations?

There are different types of paradigmatic relations. From the examples above, we can see that paradigmatic relations involve substituting a word for another word from the same word class, either with a similar meaning (synonymy), an opposite meaning (antonymy), or a-kind-of meaning (hyponymy).

Synonymy

Synonymy is when words have similar meanings. The meaning of A is similar to B (A ≈ B).

Some examples of synonyms are:

I want to live in a big country house ≈ I want to live in a huge country house.
It was a difficult decision to make ≈ It was a hard decision to make.
The food was excellent ≈ The food was great.

Synonyms can be divided into two subtypes:

Absolute synonyms: the meaning and grammatical function of the synonymous words are exactly the same, eg airport and aerodrome.
Partial synonyms: the meaning of the synonymous words are only similar. Partial synonyms can differ in collocation, register, and regional/social variation.

Be careful when doing word substitution with synonymy. Not every synonymous word fits in all situations (partial synonyms). You have to consider some factors, such as the context, relationship between words, register, regional variation, etc.

‘China has the world’s largest population’ vs. ‘China has the world’s most gigantic population’ → differ in collocation.
‘We will commence the construction next month’ vs. ‘We will start the construction next month’ → differ in register (formal-informal).
‘I’ll make some chocolate biscuits for Christmas’ vs. ‘I’ll make some chocolate cookies for Christmas’ → differ in regional usage (British English vs. American English).

Antonymy

Antonymy is when words have opposite meanings. The meaning of A is the opposite of B (A↔B).

Some examples of antonyms are:

I want to live in a big country house ↔ I want to live in a small country house
It was a difficult decision to make ↔ It was an easy decision to make
The food was excellent ↔ The food was terrible

Antonyms can be divided into three subtypes:

Gradable antonyms define words that are at the opposite ends of a spectrum with some gradation in between the two extremes, eg hot — cold.
Complementary antonyms explain an either-or relationship between opposite word pairs, eg true — false.
Relational/converse antonyms show a dependent relationship between the opposite words, eg husband-wife.

Important to note: The word substitution with antonym is relatively free without restrictions. Of course, you need to consider that the sentence’s meaning will change if you substitute a word with its antonym.

Hyponymy (hypernym & co-hyponym)

Hyponymy refers to a super- and subordination relationship between words. A is a kind of B (A ↑ ↓ B).

Some examples of hyponyms are:

Sweep, wipe, and scrub (hyponyms) are kinds of (to) clean (hypernym).
Red, blue, and yellow (hyponyms) are kinds of colours (hypernym).
Poodle, labrador, and pomeranian (hyponyms) are kinds of dogs (hypernym).

If you want to keep the sentence meaning like its original, substitute the word with its hypernym (superordinate of a word) and not with its co-hyponym (hyponyms on the same hierarchical level). For instance,

I have to babysit my sister’s poodle this weekend.

Meaning kept: substitute poodle with dog (hypernym of poodle) → ‘I have to babysit my sister’s dog this weekend’. The meaning is not exactly the same, but it generalizes the category.
Meaning changed: substitute poodle with labrador (co-hyponym of poodle) → ‘I have to babysit my sister’s labrador this weekend’. The meaning is different.

With this in mind, the sentence ‘The beautiful woman buys some brioche’ can be re-written in a variety of meaningful ways. By using or we can create a range of sentences:

Example	The	beautiful	woman	buys	some brioche
similar meaning	synonym	The	pretty	lady	buys	some brioche
opposite meaning	antonym	unattractive	man	sold	some brioche
superordinate meaning	hyponymous	beautiful	woman	buys	some bread

Paradigmatic Relations — Key takeaways

Paradigmatic relation is concerned with the substitution of words in a sentence as long as they belong to the same word class. A paradigm is a set of associated concepts or sound images which are members of a category, yet each element is different.
Syntagmatic relation refers to the relationship between words in a sentence. A Syntagm is a relationship between words in the same sentence.
Synonymy refers to words with similar meanings (A ≈ B), eg big — large, huge, gigantic.
Antonymy refers to words with opposite meanings (A↔B), eg big — small.
Hyponymy refers to a super- and subordination relationship between words (A ↑ ↓ B, where A is a kind of B), eg bread — brioche, challah, sourdough.

References

Fig.2: Ceci n’est pas une pipe graffiti in Bucharest https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ceci_n%27est_pas_une_pipe_graffiti_in_Bucharest.jpg) bybixentro (https://www.flickr.com/photos/bixentro/2591838509/) is licensed by Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en)

Frequently Asked Questions about Paradigmatic Relations

Paradigmatic Relation involves the substitution and selection of words in a sentence to create different combinations or meanings, and is concerned with the way words are grouped together into categories.

An example of paradigmatic relation involves how words in the same group, or word class, can be exchanged for each other in a sentence: ‘The dog / cat / chimpanzee bit me’.

Some types of paradigmatic relation are synonymy, antonymy, and hyponymy — these are all examples of the substitution method.

Paradigmatic Relation involves the substitution and selection of words in a sentence to create different combinations or meanings. Syntagmatic relation refers to the relationship between words in a sentence and how any alterations to the word combination in a sentence can change the meaning of the sentence.

A paradigm is a set of associated concepts or sound images which are members of a category, yet each element is different.

Final Paradigmatic Relations Quiz

Paradigmatic Relations Quiz — Teste dein Wissen

Question

What is a hyponymous relationship?

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Answer

A hyponymous relationship explains a super- and subordination relationship between words.

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Answer

A hyponym defines a more specific word for a broader term. It is the subordinate of hypernym.

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Answer

A hypernym is a general term for a word. It is the superordinate of hyponym.

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Answer

Co-hyponyms are hyponyms on the same hierarchical level

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Question

Determine the hypernym, hyponym, and co-hyponym from these words:

cold, warm, temperature, and hot.

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Answer

Hypernym: temperature

hyponym: cold, warm, hot

co-hyponym: cold, warm, hot.

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Question

Determine the hypernym, hyponym, and co-hyponym from these words:

suite, hotel room, deluxe room, and standard room.

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Answer

Hypernym: hotel room

hyponym: suite, deluxe room, standard room

co-hyponym: suite, deluxe room, standard room.

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Question

Determine the hypernym, hyponym, and co-hyponym from these words:

novel, books, dictionary, and cookbook.

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Answer

Hypernym: books

hyponym: novel, dictionary, cookbook

co-hyponym: novel, dictionary, and cookbook.

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Question

Are these words co-hyponyms to each other: pop, jazz, rock, and blues?

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Question

Are these words co-hyponyms to each other: sunny, cloudy, weather, rain, and snow?

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Question

What is meant by the multi-layer relationship in hyponymy?

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Answer

A word can be a hypernym and a hyponym of another word at the same time.

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Question

How to test whether a set of words are hyponyms?

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Question

What kind of relationship do reading, learning, studying, and transcribing have? Is it hyponymy, polysemy, or meronymy?

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Question

What kind of relationship do the words good in these two sentences have:

‘Paul was a good man’ and ‘Tom was a good painter’?

Is it hyponymy, polysemy, or meronymy?

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Question

True or false — car windows, car doors, bumpers, and headlights are the hyponyms of cars.

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Question

True or false — roof, windows, doors, and walls are the meronyms of buildings.

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Answer

Antonymy is about opposite meanings.

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Question

What are the three types of antonym?

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Answer

The three types of antonyms are complementary, relational / converse, and gradable antonyms.

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Question

True or false — Complementary antonyms are word pairs that are dependent on each other, such as husband-wife.

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Question

True or false — Gradable antonyms are word pairs that are on the opposite ends of a spectrum with gradations in between, such as hot — cold.

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Question

True or false — Relational/converse antonyms are word pairs that are dependent on one another, such as doctor-patient.

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Question

What type of antonymy does this pair of words belong to?

parent — child

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Answer

Relational/converse antonyms

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Question

What type of antonymy does this pair of words belong to?

Boring — interesting

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Question

What type of antonymy does this pair of words belong to?

Off — on

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Question

True or false — interior and exterior is a pair of complementary antonyms.

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Answer

True. Interior and exterior is a pair of complementary antonyms.

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Question

True or false — high and low is a pair of relational/converse antonyms.

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Question

True or false — front and back is a pair of gradable antonyms.

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Question

Name three literary devices that use antonym.

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Question

Name the antonyms in this excerpt and name the literary device it uses:

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity … (Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, 1859).

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Answer

The quote uses a series of paradoxes. It compares and contrasts two situations that seem impossible but are true, namely the best and worst, wisdom and foolishness, belief and incredulity.

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Question

What is the opposite of antonymy?

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Question

True or false — The antonym of receive is accept and its synonym is reject.

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Answer

Synonymy is a term for a word with the same or nearly the same meaning as another word. If you substitute synonymous words, the meaning / sense of the sentence doesn’t change.

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Question

What are the two types of synonyms?

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Answer

The two types of synonyms are absolute and partial synonyms.

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Question

Are the sentences below synonymous with each other? If so, is it an absolute or a partial synonym (collocation, register, or regional / social variety)?

You have a big house.
You have a huge house.

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Answer

Yes, the two sentences are partial synonyms in collocation.

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Question

Are the sentences below synonymous with each other? If so, is it an absolute or a partial synonym (collocation, register, or regional / social variety)?

The salesman endeavored to attract my attention.
The salesman tried to attract my attention.

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Answer

Yes, the two sentences are partial synonyms in register. Endeavour has a similar meaning to try but has a higher degree of formality.

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Question

Are the sentences below synonymous with each other? If so, is it an absolute or a partial synonym (collocation, register, or regional / social variety)?

He is a truck driver.
He is a lorry driver.

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Answer

The two sentences are partial synonyms in regional / social variety. Truck has a similar meaning to lorry but is commonly used in American English (lorry is more common in British English).

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Question

True or false — Absolute synonyms are common.

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Answer

False. Absolute synonyms are very rare.

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Question

Are the sentences below a partial synonym in collocation, register, or regional / social variety?

These numbers are surprisingly low. Can you verify them?
These numbers are surprisingly low. Can you check them?

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Answer

The two sentences are partial synonyms in register. Verify has a similar meaning to check but has a higher degree of formality.

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Question

Are the sentences below a partial synonym in collocation, register, or regional / social variety?

He placed the glass gently.
He placed the glass carefully.

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Answer

The two sentences are partial synonyms in collocation.

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Question

Are the sentences below a partial synonym in collocation, register, or regional / social variety?

The shop was closed.
The store was closed.

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Answer

The two sentences are partial synonyms in regional / social variety. Shop has a similar meaning to store but is commonly used in British English (store is more common in American English).

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Question

What is the difference between synonymy and homonymy?

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Answer

Synonymy is about words that have similar meanings. Homonymy is about words that are the same in pronunciation or spelling or both, and their meanings are dissimilar.

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Question

True or false — The words fly in these two sentences are homonyms:

Do you know how to fly a kite?
He swatted the fly with a magazine.

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Answer

True. The words fly in both sentences have the same pronunciation and spelling but differ in meaning. Thus, they’re homonyms.

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Question

Are the sentences below synonymous with each other? If not, what relationship do they have?

My brother is coming over for a couple of days next spring.
The mattress has lost its spring.

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Answer

No, the two sentences are not synonymous. The first spring refers to ‘the season’, while the second refers to ‘the ability to return to its usual shape after it has been pressed’. They are homonymous (words that have different meanings but are the same in pronunciation and spelling).

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Question

What is the difference between synonymy and polysemy?

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Answer

Synonymy is about words that have similar meanings. Polysemy is about a single word that has more than one meaning.

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Question

True or false — The words wing in these two sentences are polysemies:

The radical wing of the party has dominated the discussion.
There’s a dent in the left wing of your car.

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Answer

True. The words wing in both sentences have the same form but different meanings. Thus, they’re polysemies.

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Question

Are the sentences below synonymous with each other?

Let me have my drink then we can go.
He has a drinking problem.

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Answer

No, the two sentences are not synonymous. The first drink refers to ‘any liquid for drinking’, while the second drink in drinking problem refers to ‘an alcoholic drink’. They are polysemous (a word that has several meanings).

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Question

True or false — Paradigmatic relation is about a relation between words that co-occur in the same sentence.

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Question

What do paradigmatic relations involve?

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Answer

The substitution and selection of words in a sentence to make different combinations or meanings.

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Question

Name some methods for word substitution in paradigmatic relation.

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Answer

Some methods for word substitution in paradigmatic relation are synonymy, hyponymy, and antonymy.

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Question

True or false — Enquire is a synonym of ask but differs in register.

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Question

True or false — Shop is a synonym of store but differs in collocation (bookshop vs. bookstore).

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Let’s start with a warmer…

Which of these tasks or exercises
do you normally see in coursebooks?

Look at the highlighted
verbs in the text and match them with the following synonyms: investigate, find, catch,
escape
Match the adjectives
with their opposites, e.g. tall
/ short
Underline in the text
all the expressions with OF
Group the words
according to categories, e.g. vehicles: car,
motorcycle; musical instruments: guitar, piano etc
Underline all the
adverbs in the text. Now underline the verbs they go with.
Rick says «the
journey was long and tiring». What other adjectives can be used to
describe journeys?
Which is the odd word
out? gaze — smile — stare
— look

You probably answered 1, 2, 4 and 7 and to a lesser extent 3, 5 and
6

Now read on to find out why…

Words in a language can be described in terms of two types of relationships: paradigmatic and syntagmatic. A paradigmatic relationship refers to the relationship between words that are the same parts of speech and which can be substituted for each other in the same position within a given sentence. A syntagmatic relationship refers to the relationship a word has with other words that surround it. In the table below, paradigmatic relationships are shown vertically and syntagmatic relationship — horizontally:

	acquired
	purchased		costly		bicycle
	got		pricey	old	motorcycle
John	bought	a(n)	expensive	new	car

Click on the tab in the bottom right-hand corner to view in full screen

As you can see, the substitution of one word for another
will not affect the syntax of the sentence.

Paradigmatic (vertical) axis

The words car, motorcycle and bicycle are related to each other because they all belong to the same semantic group: vehicles — a relationship known as hyponymy with a vehicle as a hypernym (a more general or superordinate word) and car, motorcycle and bike as hyponyms (more specific words, in this case types of vehicles). The other two kinds of paradigmatic relationship are those of synonymy (buy = purchase) and antonymy (new / old).

Seen like this, it may seem that any word in a language can be substituted for another. But as Corpus linguistics and Second Language Acquisition research have shown, language doesn’t work in this slot-and-filler fashion and is not stored in the mental lexicon as a giant substitution table. Linear relationships with other words are equally important.

Syntagmatic (horizontal) axis
Unlike the paradigmatic relationships, the syntagmatic relationships of a word are not about meaning. They are about the lexical company the word keeps (collocation) and grammatical patterns in which it occurs (colligation).

Let’s look again at the table / graph above where expensive can be substituted for pricey:

expensive new car

pricey new car

It seems to work, but you’re unlikely to say «costly new car». Also old cannot be easily replaced by new as the combination expensive old is less likely than expensive new. In any case, the opposite of new in this case would probably be used or second-hand and not necessarily old. All these are collocational patterns. But there are also colligational preferences. For example, the words take in and deceive are in a paradigmatic relationship with each other, i.e. they are synonyms. However, take in has a tendency to occur in the passive:

He was taken in by her sob story
rather than «Her sob story took him in»

whereas deceive doesn’t show such grammatical preference.

Wolter and Gylstad (2011), who studied the production of English collocations in L1 Swedish speakers of English, make an interesting observation that paradigmatic relationships tend to be similar across — even vastly different — languages whereas syntagmatic relationships are often arbitrary. For example, in English one goes on a diet, in Greek one “does diet” /’ka;neiß di;aita/, in French one “puts oneself on a diet” /sǝ metR o ReƷim/ and in Russian one “sits on a diet” /sest’ na di;’aitu/.

Therefore in ELT whereas students (and teachers) may derive great pleasure from such activities as putting words in categories (animals: dog, cat, turtle; transport: car, bus, bike) they would probably get more linguistic benefit if they — to put it simply — focused on drive a car and ride a bike, i.e horizontal / syntagmatic relationships.

John Sinclair (2004), the pioneer of corpus linguistics, contends:

the tradition of linguistic theory has been massively

biased in favour of the paradigmatic rather than the

syntagmatic dimension. (p. 140)

I believe, just like in linguistics, the paradigmatic dimension has been overemphasised in the ELT methodology. As you have seen from the warmer, vocabulary teaching in textbooks tends to focus mainly on paradigmatic relationships, e.g matching synonyms and antonyms, grouping words according to sets. However, collocations have also made their way into the mainstream teaching materials in the past 10 or so years.

I have provided some ideas (examples 3, 5 and 6 in the warmer) for focusing on syntagmatic relationships between words. Can you think of other activities and tasks that would highlight the syntagmatic dimension of vocabulary learning? Your ideas are welcome in the comments below.

References

Sinclair, J. M. (2004). Trust the text: Language, corpus and discourse. London and New York: Routledge.

Wolter, B. & Gyllstad, H. (2011). Collocational links in the L2 mental lexicon and the influence of L1 intralexical knowledge. Applied Linguistics, 32(4), 430-449

Источник