What is a syntagmatic lexical relation?

A syntagmatic lexical relation is a culturally determined pattern of association between pairs of lexical units (A1-B1, A2-B2, A3-B3…) where the

• two members of each pair (A1 and B1)

  • have compatible semantic components
  • are in a fixed syntactic and semantic relationship to each other, and
  • are typically associated with each other, and

• corresponding members of each pair (A1, A2, A3…)

  • belong to the same lexical category
  • fill the same syntactic position in a syntactic construction, and
  • have the same semantic function.

• Actor
• Undergoer
• Location
• Instrument
• Benefactor
• Goal
• Feel
• Sound
• Degradation
• Intensification
• Material composition

For more information on the lexical relations listed above, refer to Coward and Grimes 1995.

Syntagmatic lexical relations are structured in sets of pairs.

Context for this page:

• Concept module: syntagmatic lexical relation
• In overview module: Glossary (Linguistics): S
• In modular book: Glossary of linguistic terms, by Eugene E. Loos (general editor), Susan Anderson (editor), Dwight H., Day, Jr. (editor), Paul C. Jordan (editor), and J. Douglas Wingate (editor)
• In bookshelf: Linguistics

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 5.0 published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 2003. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 5 January 2004

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