PARADIGM AND SYNTAGM. A paradigm is a unique collection of signs. With the application of the appropriate rules, compound signs, or syntagms, can be constructed from the paradigm. The notions of paradigm and syntagm underlie many of the semiotics methods that are used in the study of human communication.

Roland Barthes‘ Narrative TheoryBarthes suggested there will be more than one of five codes that describe the meaning of a text. He suggested texts may be ‘open’ or ‘closed’. Open texts are those that are open to interpretation and can have many different subjective meanings that are individual to the audience. (Take an image off an advertisement and it won’t have meaning)