What is an internal relation?

Definition
	An internal relation is an interpropositional relation that relates the situations described in the propositions by their communicative usage as opposed to relating the situations described by the propositions.

Examples (English)
	If you’re free tonight, there's a party at Bill’s house.
	This example contrasts with the following sentence, which is an example of an external relation sequence:
	If it doesn’t rain, there will be a party at Bill’s house.

Generic
	An internal relation is a kind of
	What is an interpropositional relation?

Source
	Halliday and Hasan 1976 239–241

Context for this page:

Concept module: internal relation
In overview module: Glossary (Linguistics): I
In modular book: Glossary of linguistic terms, by Eugene E. Loos (general editor), Susan Anderson (editor), Dwight H., Day, Jr. (editor), Paul C. Jordan (editor), and J. Douglas Wingate (editor)
In bookshelf: Linguistics

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 5.0 published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 2003. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 5 January 2004

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