Glossary of Linguistic Terms

Constituent

Definition: 

A constituent is one of two or more grammatical units that enter syntactically or morphologically into a construction at any level.

Examples: 

(English)

The sentence You eat bananas contains the following constituents:

Immediate constituents:

  • you
  • eat bananas

Ultimate constituents:

  • you
  • eat
  • banana
  • -s