A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics David Crystal

434 serial relationship
he will win, but not * . . . he had won), or the ‘sequencing’ patterns analysed in
dialogue (as in the greeting ritual in conversational openings) which form part
of the subject-matter of discourse analysis and text linguistics. Sequencing is
also occasionally used, especially in psychologically influenced studies, to refer
to the influence successive structures exercise upon each other (as seen, for
example, in the difficulty some language-disordered patients have in sequencing
appropriately a set of linguistic units). This use is quite different from the term
‘sequencing’ in language teaching, where it refers to the order in which a graded
series of items is presented to the learner. The structure of linguistic sequences
constitutes the province of syntagmatic analysis. The term is often distinguished
from the more abstract notion of order.
serial relationship A term sometimes used in linguistics, and especially in
Quirk grammar, to refer to a theory which recognizes gradience between
syntactic categories. In a matrix of the type:
A B C
a + − −
b + + −
c + + +
B would be said to be serially related to A and C. An analogous notion is that
of syntactic blending.
serial verb In syntax, a type of construction for a sequence of verbs or verb
phrases within a clause (or a sequence of clauses) in which the syntactic relationship
between the items is left unmarked. The verbs share a semantic argument,
but there is no conjunction or inflection to mark co-ordination or subordination:
for example, in the Yoruba sentence O ra eran je (‘3rd-person buy
meat eat’) ‘meat’ is simultaneously the object of both verbs. The verbs may both
be main verbs or vary in their syntactic status (e.g. one might function more like
an auxiliary or a particle). Serial verb construction is not an important
feature of English, though it can be seen in such sentences as I’ll go see (see
catenative).
series (n.) A term used in phonetics and phonology to refer to any set of
consonant sounds which has at least one phonetic feature in common, and is
distinguished in terms of place of articulation. For example, the voiced
plosive ‘series’ includes [b]–[d]–[ì], the nasal series [m]–[n]–[º], etc.
set (n.)
see harmony
set expression
see formulaic language
setting (n.)
see articulatory setting
s-fix (n.) In the demisyllabic analysis of syllables, an optional affix attached
to the right of a syllabic core; also called a suffix. The point of division between
core and suffix is shown notationally by a dot.