In semiotics paradigmatic analysis is analysis of paradigms rather than surface structure (syntax) as in syntagmatic analysis, often made through commutation tests , comparisons of words chosen with absent words, words of the same type or class but not chosen. ([[1])

In music paradigmatic analysis is a method of musical analysis developed by Nicolas Ruwet during the 1960s but later named by others. It is "based on the concept of 'equivalence'. Ruwet argued that the most striking characteristic of musical syntax was the central role of repetition - and, by extension, of varied repetition or transformation (Ruwet 1987)." (Middleton 1990, p.183).

Paradigmatic analysis assumes that Roman Jakobson's description of poetry (1960, p.358) applies to music and that in both a "projection of the principle of equivalence from the axis of selection on to the axis of combination" occurs. Thus paradigmatic analyses is able to base the assignment of units entirely on repetition so that "anything repeated (straight or varied) is defined as a unit, and this is true on all levels," from sections to phrases and individual sounds. (Middleton, ibid)

See also: Syntagmatic structure.

Source

• Middleton, Richard (1990/2002). Studying Popular Music. Philadelphia: Open University Press. ISBN 0335152759.