(1) the syntagm is always composed of two or more units(2) The tone, mood, fast-paced interjections, and witty syntagms of the 1940s vernacular are very difficult to convey in the several lines of subtitled translation.(3) In addition, notes of the missing syntagms have to be made, and schemes of the structure and movement of the text have to be drawn, making the piece difficult to comprehend.(4) For Saussure, syntagms are a ‘horizontal’ dimension of language, and are the regular and typical patterns of structure in the language system.(5) In written etic discourse, which is, after all, a linear string of syntagms , one may need to break off in order to ‘enflesh’ a character.
