expression (n.)

This term is used in a general sense in LINGUISTICS, referring to a STRING OF ELEMENTS treated as a UNIT for the purposes of analysis and discussion: expressions have a GRAMMATICAL and a LEXICAL character, and are definable in terms of both, e.g. the expression so be it can be analyzed as a sequence both of form-classes and of lexical ITEMS. Expressions can then be investigated in terms of their SEMANTIC properties, as is carried on in philosophical and logical discussion (through such notions as ‘referring’ and ‘predicative expression’), and as is increasingly the case in linguistics.

The term is also found in the SAUSSUREAN distinction between expression (or FORM) and CONTENT (or MEANING): ‘expression’ here refers to all aspects of linguistic FORM, i.e. sounds and their grammatical SEQUENCES. A more restricted sense equates ‘expression’ solely with the LEVEL of linguistic organization of SUBSTANCE, i.e. PHONOLOGY and GRAPHOLOGY. The abstract formal UNITS which are realized either in PHONIC or in GRAPHIC SUBSTANCE are sometimes referred to as expression elements, e.g. the expression element /s/ is realized PHONETICALLY as [s] and GRAPHETICALLY as s, ss, etc. In FUNCTIONAL GRAMMAR, expression rules play an important role in the final stage of sentence generation.