CONSTITUENT

Constituent

In syntactic analysis, a constituent is a word or a group of words that functions as a single unit within a hierarchical structure. The analysis of constituent structure is associated mainly with phrase structure grammars, although dependency grammars also allow sentence structure to be broken down into constituent parts. The constituent structure of sentences is identified using constituency tests. These tests manipulate some portion of a sentence and based on the result, clues are delivered about the immediate constituent structure of the sentence. Many constituents are phrases. A phrase is a sequence of two or more words built around a head lexical ...

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constituent

Noun

  1. a part, or component of a whole
  2. The person or thing which constitutes, determines, or constructs.
  3. A resident of a place represented by an elected official.
  4. One who appoints another to act for him as attorney in fact.
  5. A functional element of a phrase or clause.

Adjective

  1. being a part, or component of a whole
  2. authorized to make a constitution


The above text is a snippet from Wiktionary: constituent
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

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