Syntagmaticandparadigmatic

Syntagmaticandparadigmatic
Syntagmatic and Paradigmatic
一. An Brief Introduction of Syntagmatic and Paradigmatic
Ferdinand de Saussure ,who is often described as "father of modern linguistic", is a very famous Swiss linguistics in 20th century. In his famous great book Course in general linguistics,he states a series of theoretical issues in linguistics, including the arbitrariness of language, langue & parole, synchronic &diachronic, signifier& signified, and last but not least, syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations.
Then what is syntagmatic？What is Paradigmatic?
According to Saussure, the relations and differences between linguistic items fall into two quite different kinds, each giving rise to a separate order of values. The opposition between these two orders brings out the specific character of each. They correspond to two different forms of mental activity, both indispensable to the workings of a language. These two quite different relations are syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations.
Syntagmatic relation refers to the combination based on sequentiality. Words are used in discourse , strung together one after another, enter into relations based on the linear character of languages. In its place in a syntagma, any unit acquires its value simply in opposition to what precedes, or to what follows, or both. Here is an examples. (a) The teacher saw the students.
(b) the students saw the teacher. The words in these two sentences are exactly the same, but with different orders, they have opposite meanings.
Paradigmatic relation , what Saussure called associative relation, is a connection in the brain. This kind of connection
between words is of quite a different order. Such connections are part of that accumulated store which is the form the language takes in an individual's brain. However, groups formed by mental association do not only items sharing something in common. For the mind also grasp the nature of the relations involved in each case, and thus creates as many associative series as there are different relations. For example, when mentioning "to teach", one may associate the item in various ways with
"teacher","education","classroom","school","students","stud y", etc.
What's the relationship between the syntagmatic relation and paradigmatic relation?
The answer is : Simultaneous functioning of both types of group, they are related to each other. Our memory hold in store all the various complex types of syntagma,of each kind and length. When a syntagma is brought into use, we call upon associative groups in order to make our choice.
二．The literature review
For this part, I will show the literature review in a quite different way this time. Looking into the studies concerning about syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations, it's easy to find that the researches in this area are mainly related to three perspectives. Therefore, this parts will be divided into three parts.
First of all, it is the study relating to the theory itself, such as A General Statement of F.de Saussure s Linguistic Theory written by Suoquan Wang and On Syntagmatic and Paradigmatic Relations in Language System written by Dejuan Qin. In this two papers, the former one fauces on the theories proposed by Saussure, such as langue and parole, synchronic and diachronic,etc. Syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations are just a
small part of this paper. Compared to the other concepts which are mentioned in this paper, Wang payed little attention to these two concepts in semiotics. In his Paper, Wang just gave a direct translation and brief summary of these two concepts which are written in Saussure's book Course in general linguistics. He did not put forward any new understandings about them. The latter paper gives a much more precise adscription of these two relations. By introducing syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations and the related lexico-grammar notion and grammaticalization, Qin proposed that the choice for constructiing language structure,which involves mental process,should be made on the basis of the knowledge of the different levels of meaning that the language units indicate.
Secondly, it is the studies relating to language teaching and learning, especially the language skills, such as writing, reading and translation. Here I will also give two examples: On Syntagmatic and Paradigmatic Relations and English Writing written
by Quanwang Zhan and Syntagmatic and Paradigmatic Relationship in Contextual Theory And Translations written by Yuxia Lin. Syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations between words are seldom covered in the present English writing teaching in China; however, majority of the mistakes the Chinese students have made in English writing are related to collocation and choice of words. I n view of the above- mentioned facts, Zhan discusses syntagmatic relation in terms of conceptual meaning collocation, affective meaning collocation and stylistic meaning collocation, as well as paradigmatic relation in terms of synonym and hyponymy in his paper. He advised that the teachers should pay attention to the syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations of words
in teaching writing in order to improve the students' ability of choosing the words. Lin's paper i s an attempt to apply the theory of syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations in linguistic context to translation studies. Through samples of translations, Lin shows that this theory is of great significance in determining the precise meanings of certain words in translation. Besides, on the basis of this theory, the paper makes an analysis of certain mistakes in some translations. The studies in this perspective use the theories that we learned to solve the problems we met in our real world. They have some practical value.
Lastly, it is the study relating to the use of syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations in mass media. For examples, A Kind of Semiotics Theory And Its Function to Advertisements written by Jinglan Yang and Application of the Theories of Syntagma and Paradigm in Semiotics to Kiosk Design written by Hanyou Wang. The author of the former paper thinks the charm of advertisement lies in the meaning creating, and the meaning arises from the encoding and decoding of signs. Advertisement is a system of signs. The current semiotics can help the study of advertisement develop a more accurate discourse and decipher the secret of the ad. meaning generating. Therefore, Yang used the theory of syntagma and paradigm in semiotics to analyze some advertisement and try to describe the course of encoding and decoding of advertisement more accurately. The latter paper helds that Kiosk is a system of signs.The theory of syntagma and paradigm in semiotics is a category that is used to describe the relationship between different signs. Wang has researched the design approach of kiosk,analyzed briefly the meaning of kiosk′s construction and the common rules and special ones of encoding of kiosk with fundamental principle of the theories of
syntagma and paradigm in semiotics. For the research of syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations, the studies relating to mass media is a new rising study in recent years. It is inevitable that there must be some limitations. For example, the scale of the study is too small, it is restricted to advertisements and Kiosk. 三．Conclusion
Up to now, many scholars from both China and overseas countries had done a lot of researches in the syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations of semiotics and their uses in our real life. Frankly speaking, they had done a very good job. T he research in this area is no longer just limited to the theorematic levels, it extends to the field of our daily life and is used to solve the real-word problems. The studies of these scholars have laid a very good foundation for the further studies of other people.。