syntagmatic and paradigmatic

syntagmatic and paradigmatic

(LINGUISTICS) the distinction between the relationship of the combination of words in a chain of speech (a syntagmatic relationship) and the relationship of any particular term with ‘associated’, i.e. 'structurally interchangeable’, absent terms (a.paradigmatic relationship) (e. g. in the sentence 'she is sociologizing, 'she’ might be replaced by ‘he’, ‘is’ by ‘was’, and 'sociologizing’ by 'sleeping’). By analogy, any chain of social actions may sometimes also be referred to as 'syntagmatic’ and the relationship of the ‘units’ in this action to other absent interchangeable possible units of action, ‘paradigmatic’. See also SAUSSURE.