terminal (adj.)

A term used in GENERATIVE LINGUISTICS to identify certain characteristics of the output of the SYNTACTIC COMPONENT of the GRAMMAR. A terminal element or terminal symbol refers to the units employed in the syntactic REPRESENTATION of a SENTENCE, after all the RULES have been applied, viz. the MORPHEMES, FORMATIVES, FEATURES, such as the, -en, +, #, man. Terminal symbols are distinguished from non-terminal (or ‘auxiliary’) elements, which are used in formulating rules. The former are usually written in lower-case letters, the latter in upper-case (e.g. NP, VP). A NODE which does not DOMINATE other categories is a terminal node. A STRING consisting of terminal elements is known as a terminal string, i.e. the final string generated by a PHRASE-STRUCTURE grammar.