What is a head?

Definition
	A head is a constituent of an endocentric construction that, if standing alone, could perform the syntactic function of the whole construction.
	It may govern the
	agreement of grammatical categories, such as person and number, or occurrence of other constituents.

Examples (English)
	In the following construction, the noun chair heads the noun phrase. It also determines number on the verb: The wooden chairs in the corner are finished. In the following construction, the verb given heads the verb phrase would have given. It also determines the occurrence of a direct object and indirect object later in the clause: Mary would have given Bill a dictionary.

Generic
	A head is a kind of
	What is a syntactic function?

Sources
	Crystal 1985 146
	Hartmann and Stork 1972 34, 102
	Pei and Gaynor 1954 89
	Mish 1991 557
	Pike and Pike 1982 25–26

Context for this page:

Concept module: head
In overview module: Glossary (Linguistics): H
In modular book: Glossary of linguistic terms, by Eugene E. Loos (general editor), Susan Anderson (editor), Dwight H., Day, Jr. (editor), Paul C. Jordan (editor), and J. Douglas Wingate (editor)
In bookshelf: Linguistics

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 5.0 published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 2003. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 5 January 2004

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