A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics David Crystal

scale-and-category grammar 423
satellite (n.) A term used in functional grammar to refer to those elements
which turn a nuclear predication into a full predication. Satellites specify
further properties of the nuclear state of affairs expressed in a sentence – such
as manner, temporal and locative.
satem language /cswptvm/
see centum language
satisfaction (n.)
see constraint
saturation (n.) In logic and semantics, a term used for the combining of a
predicate or function with its arguments. A predicate is said to be saturated
if all of its argument slots are filled with arguments.
Saussurean/Saussurian (adj./n.) Characteristic of, or a follower of, the principles
of Ferdinand de Saussure (1857–1913), especially as outlined in his posthumous
Cours de linguistique générale (Paris, 1913), first translated by W. Baskin as
Course in General Linguistics (New York, 1959). His conception of language
as a system of mutually defining entities was a major influence on several schools
of linguistics (e.g. the Prague School, Geneva School, glossematics),
and most of the theoretical distinctions he introduced have become foundations
of linguistic study. Chief among these are the notions of langue and parole,
syntagmatic and paradigmatic, synchronic and diachronic, and signifiant
and signifié.
SC An abbreviation used in generative grammar to refer to structural
change. In government-binding theory, it is an abbreviation for small
clause, especially in contexts where linguists want to avoid taking a stand on
what the correct label for this constituent is!
scalar expressions In semantics and pragmatics, expressions which involve
scales in their interpretation. They include logical quantifiers (e.g. all, some),
quantifying determiners (e.g. few, half ), quantifying time expressions (e.g.
always, often), scalar adverbs (almost, only, more than), and scalar predicates
(e.g. love, like; must, shall). The nature of such scales is controversial,
being conceived both in terms of strength (e.g. ‘all is stronger than some’) and
of direction (almost and more activate a scale which is in a positive direction, by
contrast with the negative direction of only and less than).
scale-and-category grammar A linguistic theory devised by the British linguist
M. A. K. Halliday (see Hallidayan) in the early 1960s in which the structure
of language is seen as an intersecting set of scales and categories operating
at different levels. Several levels of organization are recognized. At the level
of substance, the physical data of speech or writing are defined in phonic
or graphic terms. The organization of substance into linguistic contrasts is
carried out at the level of form, grammar and lexis being the two main
subdivisions. phonology is seen as an ‘inter-level’ connecting the level of substance
and form. context is a further ‘inter-level’, connecting the level of form
with the extralinguistic situation. Linguistic analysis in this view proceeds