linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

, coordination is a complex

syntactic In linguistics, syntax () is the study of how words and morphemes combine to form larger units such as phrases and sentences. Central concerns of syntax include word order, grammatical relations, hierarchical sentence structure (constituency), ...

structure that links together two or more elements; these elements are called ''conjuncts'' or ''conjoins''. The presence of coordination is often signaled by the appearance of a coordinator (

coordinating conjunction In grammar, a conjunction (abbreviated or ) is a part of speech that connects words, phrases, or clauses that are called the conjuncts of the conjunctions. That definition may overlap with that of other parts of speech and so what constitutes a ...

), e.g. ''and'', ''or'', ''but'' (in English). The totality of coordinator(s) and

conjunct {{For, the linguistic and logical operation of conjunction, Logical conjunction In linguistics, the term conjunct has three distinct uses: *A conjunct is an adverbial that adds information to the sentence that is not considered part of the propos ...

s forming an instance of coordination is called a coordinate structure. The unique properties of coordinate structures have motivated theoretical syntax to draw a broad distinction between coordination and

subordination Subordination may refer to *Subordination in a hierarchy (in military, society, etc.) ** Insubordination, disobedience *Subordination (linguistics) * Subordination (finance) * Subordination agreement, a legal document used to deprecate the claim ...

. It is also one of the many constituency tests in linguistics. Coordination is one of the most studied fields in theoretical syntax, but despite decades of intensive examination, theoretical accounts differ significantly and there is no consensus on the best analysis.

Coordinators

A ''coordinator'' or a

, often appears between the conjuncts, usually at least between the penultimate and ultimate conjunct of the ''coordinate structure''. The words ''and'' and ''or'' are by far the most frequently occurring coordinators in English. Other coordinators occur less often and have unique properties, e.g. ''but'', ''as well as'', ''then'', etc. The coordinator usually serves to link the conjuncts and indicate the presence of a coordinate structure. Depending on the number of coordinators used, coordinate structures can be classified as syndetic, asyndetic, or polysyndetic. Different types of coordinators are also categorised differently. The table below shows the categories for the coordinators in English:

Basic examples

Coordination is a very flexible mechanism of syntax. Any given

lexical Lexical may refer to: Linguistics * Lexical corpus or lexis, a complete set of all words in a language * Lexical item, a basic unit of lexicographical classification * Lexicon, the vocabulary of a person, language, or branch of knowledge * Lex ...

or phrasal category can be coordinated. The examples throughout this article employ the convention whereby the conjuncts of coordinate structures are marked using square brackets and bold script. In the following examples, the coordinate structure includes all the material that follows the left-most square bracket and precedes the right-most square bracket. The coordinator appears in normal script between the conjuncts. :: arah'' and olani'' went to town. - N + N ::

he chicken He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...

'' and he rice'' go well together. - NP + NP ::The president will nderstand'' and

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''. - V + V ::The president will nderstand the criticism'' and

ake action Ake (or Aké in Spanish orthography) is an archaeological site of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization. It's located in the Tixkokob (municipality), municipality of Tixkokob, in the Mexico, Mexican state of Yucatán (state), Yucatán; 40 km ...

- VP + VP ::Insects were n'', n'', and nder'' the bed. - P + P + P :: fter the announcement'' but efore the game'', there was a celebration. - PP + PP ::Susan works

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