in linguistics, the linear division of speech or a text into segments that correlate with specific language units. Segments may be meaningful, as in the case of sentences, words, and morphemes (syntactic and morphological segmentation), or not meaningful, as in the case of syllabemes and phonemes (phonetic segmentation). “Dual linguistic segmentation,” a term introduced by A. Martinet, is also used in this regard. Segmentation is a syntagmatic procedure that precedes definition of paradigmatic units, which are established by comparison of segments. Linguists oppose segmental units to the suprasegmental units of language.
(1) In morphology, the division of the body of some animals or of individual organs into a linear series of segments, or metameres. (2) In embryology, a series of consecutive divisions of an egg.