The aim of this article is to investigate the influence of word class on word association test results in both the L1 and L2. The data clearly suggest that word class type affects test results: nouns elicit a higher proportion of paradigmatic responses than verbs and adjectives. The influence of word class on test results is discussed in terms of the acquisition and semantic organisation of nouns, verbs and adjectives. However, results also show a surprising majority of syntagmatic responses in the L1 test. These results lead to a critical discussion of the concept of the syntagmatic-paradigmatic shift, which in the light of the test results in this study is seriously challenged. Theoretical and pedagogical implications for lexical network structure are discussed.Keywords: mental lexicon, word association test, word class influence, syntagmatic-paradigmatic shift, EFL teaching Målet med denne artikel er at undersøge ordklassers betydning for testresultater i ordassociationstests på L1 og L2. Data viser tydeligt, at ordklasse i høj grad påvirker testresultaterne: substantiver resulterer i en større andel paradigmatiske respons end verber og adjektiver. Ordklassernes påvirkning af testresultater diskuteres i forhold til ordtilegnelse, samt måden substantiver, verber og adjektiver er organiseret semantisk i det mentale leksikon. Resultaterne viser en uventet overvaegt af syntagmatiske respons i L1-testen. Dette leder til en kritisk diskussion af begrebet det syntagmatiskparadigmatiske skift, som bliver afgørende udfordret af testresultaterne i denne undersøgelse. Teoretiske og paedagogiske konsekvenser af det leksikalske netvaerks struktur diskuteres.Nøgleord: det mentale leksikon, ordassociationstests, ordklassepåvirkning, det syntagmatisk-paradigmatiske skift, fremmedsprogsundervisning Word association studies and the mental lexiconThe syntagmatic-paradigmatic shiftIn research on L2 vocabulary, the word association test has been explored as an elicitation tool in the belief that word associations reflect fundamental characteristics of the relations between words in the mental lexicon. L2 test 390 w Henriette Bagger Nissen and Birgit Henriksen The influence of word classAs well as the degree of knowledge of the individual word, the word class of the prompt word in association tests appears to be of major importance in terms of associative behaviour. In his study of word associations by English Word class influence on word association test results w 391