Routledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics.pdf

A-Z 473The goal of linguistic analysis is not primarily the classification of linguistic objects,but rather the description of the structural relations that exist between them. Hjelmslevcalls these relations ‘functions,’ and differentiates, according to the type of relation,between (a) bilateral dependence (interdependence), (b) unilateral dependence(determination), and (c) free constellation. To describe these structural combinatoryprinciples, Hjemslev again draws on de Saussure and distinguishes betweenparadigmatic vs syntagmatic relations. Here the paradigmatic level refers to thelanguage system and the syntagmatic to the co-occurrence of elements in the text. Theconnection between the paradigmatic and syntagmatic relations is determined by thecommutation test.Glossematics influenced the development of formal linguistic description through itsconcept of the autonomy of language and through its drafting of an axiomatic-deductivelinguistic theory which was to fulfill the demands of completeness, simplicity, andfreedom from contradiction.ReferencesHjelmslev, L. 1928. Principles de grammaire générale. Copenhagen.——1943. Omkring sprogteoriens grundlaeggelse. Copenhagen. (Prolegomena to a theory oflanguage, trans. F.J.Whitfield. Baltimore, MD, 1953.)Saussure, F. de. 1916. Cours de linguistique générale, ed. C.Bally and A.Sechehaye. Paris. (Coursein general linguistics, trans. R.Harris. London. 1983.)Siertsema, B. 1955. A study of glossematics, part I: General Theory (TCLC 10). Copenhagen.Spang-Hanssen, H. 1961. Glossematics. In C.Mohrmann et al. (eds), Trends in European andAmerican linguistics, 1930–1960. Utrecht. 128–64.linguistics (history)glosseme1 In L.Bloomfield’s terminology, the smallest meaning-bearing unit. Glosseme functionsas the cover term for the (grammatically interpreted) tagmemes and the (lexicallyinterpreted) morphemes.Referencesetic vs emic analysis2 In glossematics, cover term for minimal linguistic units of langue ( langue vsparole), which on the expression plane consist of phonological features (kenemes) andon the content plane of semantic features (pleremes) ( also expression plane vscontent plane).