Syntagma (linguistics)

In linguistics, a syntagma is an elementary constituent segment within a text.^{[citation needed]} Such a segment can be a phoneme, a word, a grammatical phrase, a sentence, or an event within a larger narrative structure, depending on the level of analysis. Syntagmatic analysis involves the study of relationships (rules of combination) among syntagmas.

At the lexical level, syntagmatic structure in a language is the combination of words according to the rules of syntax for that language. For example, English uses determiner + adjective + noun, e.g. the big house. Another language might use determiner + noun + adjective (Spanish la casa grande) and therefore have a different syntagmatic structure.

At a higher level,

feature a realistic temporal flow guided by tension and relaxation; thus, for example, events or rhetorical figures may be treated as syntagmas of epic structures.

Syntagmatic structure is often contrasted with paradigmatic structure. In

See also

• Ferdinand de Saussure
• Lexeme
• Morphology (linguistics)
• Phonetic word

• ISBN 0-335-15275-9
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• Cubitt, Sean (1984). Cited in Middleton (2002).