combinatorial (adj.)

A fundamental function of LINGUISTIC UNITS to ‘combine’ with one another to produce more complex patterns. The ‘combinatorial properties’ or ‘relations’ of CONSONANTS and VOWELS, for example, can be used as a definition of SYLLABLE (vowel as NUCLEUS, consonants as MARGINS). Combination, in this sense, is a SYNTAGMATIC relation, and opposed to the PARADIGMATIC notion of CONTRAST.