Syntagmatic versus paradigmatic structural analysis of Zulu folk-tales

Abstract

A syntagmatic structural analysis of folk-tales reveals the component parts of a folk-tale and also shows how these have been strung together on a linear ordering of the story line. It is argued that this approach is not adequate since it fails to put the folk-tale in its proper cultural context; we are told how the folk-tale is structured without being told how it relates to the society from which it originates. It is submitted that the paradigmatic structural approach complements the syntagmatic analysis in that it is demonstrated that structural analysis has sociological value, since the society's view of life embedded in the structure of folk-tales is revealed in this analysis.