Lecture 2

Dimensions and levels of linguistic analysis: syntagmatic

and paradigmatic relations between lingual units.
Hierarchical structuring of language system.

Language is a system of signs in which lingual units enter into relations of two different
kinds: syntagmatic and paradigmatic. When elements combine with others along a horizontal
dimension, they enter into syntagmatic relations. Syntagmatic relations are immediate linear
relations between lingual units of the same level in a segmental sequence. Let’s consider an
example:“A beautifully dressed girl is talking to my brother in the yard.” In this sentence words
are connected syntagmatically within the word-groups:
beautifully dressed; my brother;
a beautifully dressed girl; is talking to my brother;
a girl is talking; is talking in the yard.
Morphemes within the words are also connected syntagmatically. E.g.: beauti/ful/ly, dress/ed,
talk/ ing, etc. Phonemes and graphemes are syntagmatically connected within morphemes and
words.
The combination of two words or word-groups in a segmental sequence, one of which is
modified by the other, forms a unit which is called a syntactic “syntagma.” There are four main
types of notional syntagmas:
1. predicative syntagma, which represents a combination of a subject and a predicate.
For instance: A girl is talking .
2. objective syntagma, which represents a combination of a verb and its object.
For instance: is talking to my brother.
3. attributive syntagma, which represents a combination of a noun and its attribute.
For instance: a beautifully dressed girl; my brother.
4. adverbial syntagma, which represents a combination of a modified notional word,
such as a verb, adjective or adverb, with its adverbial modifier.
For instance: is talking in the yard (a verb with its adverbial modifier of place);
beautifully dressed (an adverb with its adverbial modifier of degree).

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 The other type of relations, which is opposed to syntagmatic, is called paradigmatic.
Elements enter into paradigmatic relations when they have the same potential to appear in the
same context and functionally substitute each other. We have syntagmatic elements in a sequence
along the horizontal dimension, while along the vertical dimension we have paradigmatic
elements in substitution (Haspelmath 2002: 165). For example:
Nick was offensive.
The word on the wall was offensive.
The politician’s speech was offensive.
His manner was offensive.
All these expressions, and infinitely many more, can combine with the predicate - ‘was offensive’.
So they all have the same syntagmatic relation with the rest of the sentence, as they can all figure
in the same position in its structure, i.e. they all have the equivalent function that of a subject as a
constituent in sentence structure. In this respect they can all be classed paradigmatically as noun
phrases.
Paradigmatic relations between lingual elements are especially evident in classical paradigms
of categorical forms of parts of speech. The minimal paradigm consists of two oppositional forms
and because of this it is called a binary paradigm (e.g. singular and plural of nouns: boy – boys; box
– boxes, etc. or the category of case: common case and possessive case: boy – boy’s; children –
children’s, etc). The grammatical category of the degrees of comparison of adjectives is represented
by a ternary paradigm (სამწევრა პარადიგმა) that of the positive, comparative and superlative
degrees, such as: large – larger – largest; tall – taller – tallest; beautiful - more beautiful – most
beautiful, and quaternary paradigms (ოთხწევრა პარადიგმა) are observed with verbal categories:
play – plays – played – will play;
play – is playing – was/were playing - will be playing;

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 Hierarchical structuring of language system

In modern linguistics language is regarded as a system of signs which is organized by the

principle of hierarchy of levels of lingual units. The peculiarity of this hierarchy lies in the fact
that units of any higher level are formed of units of the immediately lower ones. Thus morphemes
are formed of phonemes, words of morphemes, sentences of phrases and words and so on.
The lowest level of lingual units is a phonemic level which is formed by phonemes.
Phonemes are not signs yet as they have no meaning. They serve as material elements to build the
higher level segments – morphemes and words. Their function is purely differential, as they
differentiate morphemes and words from each other. For instance: bad [bæd] and bed [bed]; pork
and fork ; sheep and ship; cat and cap, etc. Phonemes are represented by graphemes (i.e.) letters
in writing.
Units of the higher levels are meaningful, therefore they represent signs.
The level located above the phonemic is a morphemic or morphological level. The
morpheme is the smallest meaningful component of the word. It is built up by a sequence of
phonemes or even by one phoneme if it has a meaning. For instance, the words ros-y; come-s, and
boy-s, consist of two morphemes one of which is the root morpheme which is built up by a
sequence of phonemes, whereas the other morpheme is an affixal inflexion represented by a single
meaningful phoneme, respectively indicating grammatical meaning of quality in – ros-y, present
tense, third person and singular number in – come-s, and the plural number in – boy-s.
The third level in the lingual hierarchy is the lexemic level represented by words as lexical
items or lexemes. The word is built up by a sequence of morphemes or one morpheme and it is the
smallest designating (naming) unit of language: it designates things (dog, woman, table, book,
river, etc.), qualities (quiet, beautiful, round, interesting, deep, etc.), actions, states or processes,
etc. (bark, laugh, stand, read, crawl, and so on.).
The fourth level in the hierarchy of language system is the syntactic level the main unit of
which is a sentence. The sentence is an elementary full sign as it not only designates a certain tar-
get situation or event but performs communicative function as well, transmitting a completed
piece of information. For instance, the sentence – “The American delegation arrived in Tbilisi for a
three-day visit.” – on the one hand, designates a particular target event of objective reality and on
the other hand, transmits the corresponding information about it, on the other.
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 But the sentence is not the highest unit of language in the hierarchy of levels. The highest
level of lingual units is the textual level represented by a text. Traditionally, from the structuralist
viewpoint, text can be defined as a sequence of thematically interrelated sentences which forms a
meaningful whole. According to the structural definition, the lower border of the text is restricted
as it implies a sequence of at least two sentences. However, the structuralist approach to text
definition leaves its upper border open because of the varying diapazon of the theme.
On this basis, linguists differentiate structural types of texts into microtexts and macrotexts.
In microtexts sentences centre around one concrete theme while in macrotexts - microtexts are
united by a hypertheme which is derived from the constituent microthemes.
For instance, in the text given below all the sentences are thematically interrelated under the
headline “Kate Middleton and Prince William’s Relationship”.

Kate Middleton and Prince William’s

Relationship
Kate and Will’s romance blossomed at University, where  they  regularly saw each other
in lectures and tutorials and around the University Halls.

  The couple  connected  through their love of sport and gap year experiences.

By the time they entered their  second year  at University, Kate and Will had moved in
together, as flatmates, but insisted they were only  friends.  However the  pair soon
became closer and started developing feelings for each other.

Kate and Will tried to keep their relationship a secret from the press, but when  they
were spotted kissing on the slopes of the Alps  whilst on a skiing holiday
in  Switzerland, they could no longer hide.

In this example, we can clearly see that text is actually a communicative unit of the highest
rank. This text, for instance, contains considerable and interesting information about Kate
Middletone and Prince William’s relationship. The informative potential of any text is determined
by the fact that, unlike a sentence, it can designate a whole set of extralinguistic events or
situations which constitute the target (i.e. referential) space of the given text.
But there exists another interpretation of the notion of text. From the functionalist
viewpoint, a lingual unit of any length, be it a sequence of thematically interrelated well-formed
sentences, one simple sentence or even a word, can be defined as a text if it performs a

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communicative function. This definition explains the existence of such small-scale texts as: “Fire!”;
“Help!” and many others, that are restricted (determined) by the setting of the corresponding
speech act.
Thus, we have discussed the dimensions and levels of linguistic analysis that imply
syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations between lingual units, on the one hand, and hierarchical
structuring of language system, on the other hand.

Study Questions:

1. Define syntagmatic relations between lingual units.

2. Give the definition of the term syntagma. Name the main types of syntagmas and define each
of them.
3. Define paradigmatic relations between lingual units. How do syntagmatic and paradigmatic
relations differ from each other?
4. What are classical examples of paradigmatic relations between lingual units?
5. How is the language system organized (structured)? What does the hierarchy of levels imply?
6. Describe each level of the hierarchical structure of language system (phonemic, morpho-
logical, lexemic, syntactic and textual levels).
7. Give the structural definition of the text and explain it.
8. Name structural types of texts and define them.
9. Give the functional definition of the text.