Transcript Media Studies – Week 3 28.09.11

Media Studies – Week 3
28.09.12
Syntagms and Paradigms
Syntagms
• A syntagm is a chain of words ordered sequentially e.g a
sentence (x i.e horizontal axis). ‘The cat sat on the mat’.
• The categories from which we make choices when filling
the designated places in the sentence pattern, can be
called paradigms (y i.e. vertical axis). Paradigms i.e groups
of words with a similar or related meaning, may be thought
of as ‘storage shelves’ where one finds and takes out the
words one needs to fill certain places in the syntagms. ‘The
mouse sat on the mat.’
• Parasynonyms: semi-identical meaning e.g ‘warm’, ‘hot’,
‘boiling’.
• Antonyms: Opposite meaning e.g. hot/cold, light/dark.
Paradigms cont’d
• According to French film
semiotician, Christian Metz,
‘paradigms consist of a
number of units that
compete for the same place
in the syntagmatic chain,
and [..] any chosen unit
(word, picture, sound etc.)
gets its meaning through a
comparison with those that
could have appeared in the
same place (Metz, 1982, p.
180).
Examples of paradigmatic-syntagmatic
relationships
• Menu in a French restaurant = a syntagm. Made up of starters, main
courses, cheeses and desserts = syntagmatic code. Syntagmatic
chain made up of paradigms e.g starters.
• Clothing. There are paradigms for headwear, upper- and lowerbody garments, socks and shoes. ‘Wearing knickers as a hat will be
a breach of a paradigmatic code – and also of a syntagmatic one.
For there are syntagmatic codes for combinations: a tuxedo coat
does not fit with jogging trousers. It is a breach of the code as is
slalom boots worn with a ballroom dress. Such breaches of codes
can of course be done, not least in order to draw attention. They
may therefore be successfully used in humour or advertising.’
(Gillespie and Toynbee (eds) Analysing Media Texts, Maidenhead,
Open University Press, 2006, p.25)
• Film = syntagm. Choice of lighting or choice of camera angle =
paradigm. Clip: Edward Scissorhands ( Tim Burton, USA, 1990)
Commutation Test
• Example: substitute one
film star for another in a
role in order to see
what values and
meanings are
associated with each
star.
So....we all interpret continuously
• ‘A key point about the
features of representational
codes, from words in
language to the iconic signs
of photojournalism, is that
they become naturalized.
Van Zoonen argues: ‘
semiotic analysis can be
seen as a formalization of
the interpretative activities
human beings perform
incessantly (1994, p. 77)’
(Taylor and Willis p. 22).
Semiotics and Ideology
• ‘It is because connotation is so saturated with meaning
that Barthes argued that it is always ideological,
expressing what he called the ‘myth’ of society. In so
doing, the connotative meaning of signs is often
attempting to make culturally constructed societal
power relations of, for example, class and gender, seem
natural, universal and inevitable. By logical extension
Barthes’s argument about connotation, myth and
ideology can also be applied to the images that the
media directly trade in: it is through connotative
meanings that the media, at certain moments,
communicate ideologically.’ (Taylor and Willis, 22).
Van Zoonen’s working steps for semiotic
analysis (Taylor and Willis p. 23 – 27)
1. Identify relevant signs and their dominant aspects
(what kind of signifier/is the sign
iconic/symbolic/indexical)
2. One continues with examining the paradigmatic
combination of these signs, for instance by asking what
their absent opposites are, and how they relate to each
other syntagmatically.
• → ‘One thus arrives at an understanding of the
different processes of signification at work within the
text: denotation, connotation, myth and ideology.’
• Viewing: Pleasantville (Gary Ross, USA, 1998)
Conclusions
+ ‘Semiotic analysis is a powerful tool to understand how
sign systems in mass media can evoke emotions,
associations, fears, hopes, fantasies and acquiescence.’
+ Semiotic and Content analysis can show how often
particular meanings re-occur in the media.
- Problems with semiotic analysis as textual analysis –
fails to take account of the audience/spectator/reader.
- Textual analysis must be accompanied by an
examination of audience response in order to be
properly understood.