Paradigmatic Classification

Summary

Paradigmatic classification deals with formation of classes of objects which belong to specific paradigms. Here, paradigms are fields of equivalence or association. In a more general setting than in mathematics, equivalence is not necessarily understood as being a transitive relation. We give motivation of the paradigm concept from musicology, semiotics and poetology, and mathematics. Our taxonomy yields two types of paradigms: by transformations and by similarity—however, in practice, they often appear in mixed form. In a mathematical perspective, the first type is covered by group theory, the second by topology. This means that fuzzy concepts in the humanities are not a priori useless, they can be incorporated into exact reasoning by means of a refined paradigmatic reconstruction.

The poetic function projects the principle of equivalence from the axis of selection to the axis of combination.

Roman Jakobson [245]