What is an exocentric construction?

Definition
	An exocentric construction is a construction that does not contain any head element that is capable of being a syntactically adequate substitution for the whole construction.

Examples (English)
	Prepositional phrase Neither the component preposition nor the noun phrase may substitute for the whole prepositional phrase. Clause No single element of the clause may substitute for the whole.

Generic
	An exocentric construction is a kind of
	What is a construction?

Sources
	Hartmann and Stork 1972 80
	Pei and Gaynor 1954 69
	Crystal 1985 114
	Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech, and Svartvik 1985 60

Context for this page:

Concept module: exocentric construction
In overview module: Glossary (Linguistics): E
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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