(1918-41) and communist Yugoslavia (1945-91). With the independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1992, a Bosnian form of the language was recognized of necessity. Vocabulary and pronunciation differences exist among the three but form no real barrier to communication. The Croats and Bosnians use the Roman, or Latin, alphabet; the Serbs and Montene¬ grins of present-day Serbia and Montenegro use Cyrillic. Most Bosnians, Serbs, and Croats insist that their language is distinct from the others, and, perhaps, from a political perspective this is understandable; but most linguists consider Serbian, Croatian, and Bosnian a single language, which has historically been called Serbo-Croatian.
Serbs, Croats \'kro-,ats\ / and Slovenes, Kingdom of Balkan state formed in 1918 after World War I. It included the previously inde¬ pendent kingdoms of Serbia and Montenegro and the southern Slavic ter¬ ritories formerly subject to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, including Dalmatia, CROATiA-Slavonia, Slovenia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The kingdom was ruled by the Serbian Karadjordjevic dynasty. In 1929 King Alexander I sought to combat local nationalisms by proclaiming a royal dictatorship and renaming the state Yugoslavia. See also Serbia and Mon¬ tenegro.
Serengeti \,ser-3n-'ge-te\ National Park Wildlife refuge, north- central Tanzania. Established in 1951, the park covers 5,700 sq mi (14,763 sq km). An international tourist attraction, it is the only place in Africa where vast land-animal migrations still take place. More than 35 species of plains animals, more than 350 species of birds, and lions, leopards, elephants, rhinoceroses, hippopotamuses, giraffes, and baboons inhabit the park. Poaching is a major problem.
serfdom In medieval Europe, condition of a tenant farmer who was bound to a hereditary plot of land and to the will of his landlord. Serfs differed from slaves in that slaves could be bought and sold without ref¬ erence to land, whereas serfs changed lords only when the land they worked changed hands. From about the 2nd century ad, large privately owned estates in the Roman Empire that had been worked by slaves were broken up and given to peasant farmers. These farmers came to depend on larger landowners for protection in turbulent times, and swearing fealty to a proprietor became common practice. In 332 Constantine I established serfdom legally by requiring tenant farmers to pay labour services to their lords. As serfs, they could not marry, change occupations, or move with¬ out the permission of their lords, to whom they were required to give a major portion of their harvest. The development of centralized political power, the labour shortage caused by the Black Death, and endemic peas¬ ant uprisings in the 14th and 15th centuries led to the gradual emancipa¬ tion of serfs in western Europe. In eastern Europe serfdom became more entrenched during that period; the peasants of the Austro-Hungarian Empire were freed in the late 18th century, and Russia’s serfs were freed in 1861. See also feudalism.
serial Film presented in a series of episodes over several months. The serials, usually adventure melodramas, probably developed from the adventure stories published in monthly installments in magazines. The first internationally popular serial, The Perils of Pauline (1914), starring Pearl White, was followed by other serials such as The Hazards of Helen, which ran for 119 episodes (1914-17). Serials focused on action sequences, with cliff-hanging endings for each episode. They remained popular with movie audiences, especially children, into the 1940s.
serial murder Unlawful homicide of at least two people, carried out in a series over a period of time. Serial murder differs from mass murder, in which several victims are murdered at the same time and place. Crimi¬ nologists have distinguished between two types of serial murder: classic serial murder, which usually involves stalking and is often sexually moti¬ vated, and spree serial murder, which is usually motivated by thrill¬ seeking. Cases of serial murder have been documented since ancient times. The incidence of serial murder increased dramatically in the early 19th century, particularly in Europe, though this development has been attributed to advances in crime detection and increased news coverage rather than to an actual rise in the number of occurrences. From the late 19th century serial murderers received considerable attention in the press, and their cases inspired numerous books and films. These accounts, how¬ ever, tended to mislead the public by suggesting that serial murder is a common phenomenon, when in fact it represented less than 2% of all murders in the late 20th century.
serialism Use of an ordered set of pitches as the basis of a musical composition. The terms 12-tone music and serialism, though not entirely
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1724 I serigraphy ► Servetus
synonymous, are often used interchangeably. The serial method was worked out by Arnold Schoenberg in the years 1916-23, though another serial method was being devised simultaneously by Josef Matthias Hauer. To Schoenberg, it represented the culmination of the growth of chromati¬ cism in the late 19th and early 20th century. In an attempt to erase the system of tonality, which he regarded as outworn but which frequently asserted itself even in the music of composers who desired to transcend it, Schoenberg’s original method stipulated (among several other require¬ ments) that no note could be repeated before all 11 other notes of the chromatic scale had been used. Serialism, a broader term than 12-tone music, can be applied to the use of fewer than 12 tones. “Total serialism,” a concept that arose in the late 1940s, attempts to organize not only the 12 pitches but also other elements such as rhythm, dynamics, register, and instrumentation into ordered sets.
serigraphy See silkscreen
serine \'ser-,en\ One of the nonessential amino acids, found in substan¬ tial concentrations (sometimes 5-10%) in many common proteins. It is also an important component of phospholipids. It is used in biochemical and microbiological research and as a dietary supplement and feed addi¬ tive.
Serkin, Rudolf (b. March 28, 1903, Eger, Bohemia, Austria- Hungary—d. May 8, 1991, Guilford, Vt., U.S.) Austrian-born U.S. pia¬ nist. He made his debut at age 12 in Vienna, and from 1920 he was a close associate of the conductor Adolf Busch, whose daughter he married in 1935. He immigrated to the U.S. in 1939 and began teaching at the Curtis Institute, of which he served as director (1968-75). In 1950 he and Busch cofounded the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont, which under Serkin’s direction became the preeminent locus for chamber music in the U.S. He was known for his highly intelligent and expressive but self- effacing playing of the German-Austrian classics. His son, Peter (b. 1947), is a well-known pianist, with a wide repertoire.
Serling, (Edward) Rod(man) (b. Dec. 25, 1924, Syracuse, N.Y., U.S.—d. June 28, 1975, Rochester, N.Y.) U.S. television writer and pro¬ ducer. He began his career in radio but soon shifted to television, becom¬ ing a freelance screenwriter in 1953. He wrote teleplays for series such as Kraft Television Theater, Studio One, and Playhouse 90, including Requiem for a Heavyweight (1956, Emmy Award). He created, narrated, and was the main writer of the famous supernatural series The Twilight Zone (1959-65) and narrated the similar series Night Gallery (1970-73). He also wrote screenplays, often based on his television scripts, such as Patterns (1956) and The Rack (1956). He was coauthor of The Planet of the Apes (1968).