Semiotics: Paradigmatic Analysis

Daniel Chandler's Questions:

To which class of paradigms (medium; genre; theme) does the whole text belong?
How might a change of medium affect the meanings generated?
What might the text have been like if it had formed part of a different genre?
What paradigm sets do each of the signifiers used belong to? For example, in photographic, televisual and filmic media, one paradigm might be shot size.
Why do you think each signifier was chosen from the possible alternatives within the same paradigm set? What values does the choice of each particular signifier connote?
What signifiers from the same paradigm set are noticeably absent?
What contrasted pairs seem to be involved (e.g. nature/culture)?
Which of those in each pairing seems to be the 'marked' category?
Is there a central opposition in the text?
Apply the commutation test in order to identify distinctive signifiers and to define their significance. This involves an imagined substitution of one signifier for another of your own, and assessing the effect.

Daniel Chandler's notes on paradigmatic analysis

'Paradigmatic relations' are the oppositions and contrasts between the signifiers that belong to the same set from which those used in the text were drawn. Paradigmatic analysis involves comparing and contrasting each of the signifiers present in the text with absent signifiers which in similar circumstances might have been chosen, and considering the significance of the choices made. It can be applied at any semiotic level, from the choice of a particular word, image or sound to the level of the choice of style, genre or medium. The use of one signifier rather than another from the same paradigm is based on factors such as technical constraints, code (e.g. genre), convention, connotation, style, rhetorical purpose and the limitations of the individual's own repertoire.

- Daniel Chandler http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/S4B/sem05.html

The basic feature of paradigmatic analysis is the binary opposition or dualism. Some common dualisms:

us vs. them
good vs. evil
male vs. female
up vs. down
public vs. private
West vs. other
form vs. matter
active vs. passive
whole vs. part

Note that some of these (e.g., male/female) are not actually oppositions, but culturally we are encouraged to treat them as such.

Kinds of oppositions:

analogue
digital

Analogue oppositions are "more or less" oppositions, while digital are "all or nothing"

Examples: Determine the oppositions or dualisms in the following examples