Linearization and Segmentation in Discourse: Introduction to the Special Issue

Like other forms of communication, language is inseparably tied to some kind of linear-sequential presentation, due to the linear-sequential nature of the media it operates on. Linearization in its turn presupposes segmentation, i.e. decisions concerning the size and type of units to be brought into a sequential order at various levels. In written and spoken language, for example, it has to be decided whether a piece of information can and should be realized as a word, a phrase, a clause, a (...