Head (linguistics) Totally Explained

Everything about Head Linguistics totally explained

In linguistics, the head is the morpheme that determines the category of a compound or the word that determines the syntactic type of the phrase of which it's a member. In the noun phrase big red dog, for instance, dog is the head, which is modified by the adjectives big and red. Likewise, in the compound noun greensleeves, sleeves is the head, which is modified by the adjective green.

Head directionality and head marking

Some language typologists attempt to classify language syntax according to a head directionality parameter in word order, that is, whether a phrase is head initial or head final, assuming that it has a fixed word order at all. It is also common to classify language morphology according to whether a phrase is head marking or dependent marking.
However, these simple dichotomies run into problems when they're extended, as they often are, to describe the entire language rather than specific areas of its grammar. For one, many languages are not consistently either head initial or final, or head or dependent marking, across different aspects of their grammar; and secondly, it's difficult find a definition of 'head' that's consistent across these different aspects. For instance, either the subject or the verb may be considered the 'head' of the clause in different theoretical treatments, resulting in alleged descriptions of languages as 'head initial' or 'head marking' that are theoretical claims rather than actual descriptions.

Prosodic head

In a prosodic unit, the head is that part which extends from the first stressed syllable up to (but not including) the tonic syllable. The high head is the stressed syllable which begins the head and is high in pitch, usually higher than the beginning pitch of the tone on the tonic syllable. For example:
The ˈbus was late.
The low head is the syllable which begins the head and is low in pitch, usually lower than the beginning pitch of the tone on the tonic syllable.
The ˌbus was late.

Further Information

Get more info on 'Head Linguistics'.

External Link Exchanges

Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:

<a href="http://head__linguistics.totallyexplained.com">Head (linguistics) Totally Explained</a>

Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned.