Syndeton - polysyndeton - asyndeton

The terms syndeton, polysyndeton, and asyndeton all refer to features of sentence construction. The associated adjectives are syndetic, polysyndetic, and asyndetic.

Note on pronunciation: Syndeton is pronounced with the stress on the penultimate syllable, which has the vowel of ‘bee’, IPA: / sɪn 'diː tən/, while polysyndeton and asyndeton have the stress on the third syllable from the end and their penultimate syllable has the vowel of ‘bet’, IPA: /,pɒ lɪ 'sɪn dɛ tən/ and IPA: /æ 'sɪn dɛ tən/. The adjectival forms all have the stress on the penultimate syllable, which has the vowel of ‘bet’, IPA: /sɪn 'dɛ tɪk/, IPA: /,pɒ lɪ sɪn 'dɛ tɪk/, and IPA: /æ sɪn 'dɛ tɪk/.

The term syndeton may be applied to any linguistic unit in which two or more co-ordinate words, phrases, or clauses, are linked by a conjunction, often but not necessarily and – for example, ‘I visited Paris and Berlin’, ‘I flew to Paris and went by train to Berlin’, ‘If there is time and if we are not too tired, we shall visit the National Portrait Gallery’, ‘He was deterred from his vile crime neither by common decency nor by the prospect of a long prison sentence’.

The term polysyndeton applies to a syndetic construction which involves three or more coordinate linguistic elements linked by a conjunction. For example, ‘When he saw the postman coming, he rushed out and snatched the letter from him and opened it and ran back into the house to tell his parents the good news’. Another fine example is to be found in the King James Version of the New Testament in the Epistle to the Romans 8, 38-39, where St. Paul writes ‘For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God … ‘.

The term asyndeton applies to a construction in which a number of co-ordinate linguistic elements are not linked by a conjunction, but (in writing) separated from one another only by a comma. Thus the first example of polysyndeton above might be rewritten to exemplify asyndeton as follows: ‘When he saw the postman coming, he rushed out, snatched the letter from him, opened it, ran back into the house to tell his parents the good news’. Another example, often quoted, is Julius Caesar’s observation (in a letter to the Roman Senate after his victory over the King of Pontus at the battle of Zela in 47 BCE) Veni, vidi, vici (‘I came, I saw, I conquered’).

Polysyndeton and asyndeton may be used, e.g., to give emphasis to what is said (or written) or to produce a particular emotional effect (such as excitement or anxiety). Both constructions may be contrasted with the standard English practice according to which only the last two elements in a list are separated by 'and' while all the preceding elements are separated from one another only by a comma - as in ‘I bought bread, cheese, and some apples’ or ‘She entered the room, looked around, sighed, and walked out’. (Authorities disagree over whether the ‘and’ before the final element in a set of three or more elements should be preceded by a comma, i.e., whether it should be, as above, ‘I bought bread, cheese, and some apples’ or ‘I bought bread, cheese and some apples’. AWE’s contributors respect different conventions in this matter. There is, however, no disagreement that when ‘and’ links only two items, it should not be preceded by a comma: 'I bought bread, and some apples' would be a mistake.)

Etymological note: Syndeton, polysyndeton, and asyndeton are all transliterations of the neuter of Greek adjectives whose meanings are virtually identical to those of their English descendants: σύνδετος (sundetos), formed from σύν (sun, 'with', 'together') and δεῖν (dein, 'to bind', 'to tie') means ‘bound', 'united with’, while πολυσύνδετος (polusundetos), formed from πολυ- (polu-, 'many') and σύνδετος (sundetos), means ‘using many conjunctions or connecting particles’, and ἀσύνδετος (asundetos), formed from ἀ- (a-, ‘not’) and σύνδετος (sundetos), means ‘unconnected', 'loose’.