Immediate Constituents

Immediate constituent is the way of

dividing / cutting a word into parts of which it
seems to have been composed.
This analysis is completed when the
constituent is no further can be divided .
 A one morpheme word can’t be analyzed
into further parts as in boy , cat , ball etc.

A word of two morphemes is composed of

two parts as cats , playing , cheerful , illegal etc

cat s play ing cheer ful il legal

 A word of three or more morphemes is
rather complex for each word has its own
hierarchy and the total meaning of the word
should be composed from the meaning of its
parts . For example :
- gentleman
- gentlemanly
- ungentlemanly
 1
1 2

gentle man gentle man ly

1
1 3 2

un gentle man ly
 Three recommendations
1- If a word ends in an inflectional suffix , the
first cut is between the suffix and the rest of the
word :

pre conceiv ed mal formation s

2 - One of the constituent should be a free
morpheme :

* en large ment en large ment

* in depend ent in depend ent

3- The meanings of the constituents should be
related to the meaning of the word , for example
the word “ restrain “ :

rest rain the meaning of rest and rain has no

connection with the meaning of
restrain
re strain