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In linguistics, the head is the word that determines the syntactic
Syntax

In linguistics, syntax is the study of the principles and rules for constructing Sentence s in natural languages. In addition to referring to the discipline, the term syntax is also used to refer directly to the rules and principles that govern the sentence structure of any individual language, as in "the Irish syntax"....
 type of the phrase
Phrase

In grammar, a phrase is a group of words that functions as a single unit in the syntax of a Sentence .For example the house at the end of the street is a phrase....
 of which it is a member, or analogously the stem
Word stem

In linguistics, a stem is the part of a word that is common to all its inflection variants. Stems are often root , e.g. atomic, its root is atom, but its stem is atom?ic....
 that determines the semantic category of a compound
Compound (linguistics)

In linguistics, a compound is a lexeme that consists of more than one Word stem. Compounding or composition is the word-formation that creates compound lexemes ....
 of which it is a component. The other elements modify the head.

For example, in the big red dog, the word dog is the head, as it determines that the phrase is a noun phrase
Noun phrase

In grammar, a noun phrase is a phrase whose Head is a noun or a pronoun, optionally accompanied by a set of modifiers.Noun phrases are very common linguistic typology, but some languages like Tuscarora language and Cayuga language have been argued to lack this category....
. The adjectives big and red modify this head noun.






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In linguistics, the head is the word that determines the syntactic
Syntax

In linguistics, syntax is the study of the principles and rules for constructing Sentence s in natural languages. In addition to referring to the discipline, the term syntax is also used to refer directly to the rules and principles that govern the sentence structure of any individual language, as in "the Irish syntax"....
 type of the phrase
Phrase

In grammar, a phrase is a group of words that functions as a single unit in the syntax of a Sentence .For example the house at the end of the street is a phrase....
 of which it is a member, or analogously the stem
Word stem

In linguistics, a stem is the part of a word that is common to all its inflection variants. Stems are often root , e.g. atomic, its root is atom, but its stem is atom?ic....
 that determines the semantic category of a compound
Compound (linguistics)

In linguistics, a compound is a lexeme that consists of more than one Word stem. Compounding or composition is the word-formation that creates compound lexemes ....
 of which it is a component. The other elements modify the head.

For example, in the big red dog, the word dog is the head, as it determines that the phrase is a noun phrase
Noun phrase

In grammar, a noun phrase is a phrase whose Head is a noun or a pronoun, optionally accompanied by a set of modifiers.Noun phrases are very common linguistic typology, but some languages like Tuscarora language and Cayuga language have been argued to lack this category....
. The adjectives big and red modify this head noun. That is, the phrase big red dog is a noun like dog, not an adjective like big or red. Likewise, in the compound noun birdsong, the stem song is the head, as it determines the basic meaning of the compound, while the stem bird modifies this meaning. That is, a birdsong is a kind of song, not a kind of bird. If bird were the head, the order would be different: a songbird is a kind of bird. Thus in English, compound nouns are head final: the head comes at the end.

Head directionality and head marking

Some language typologists attempt to classify language syntax
Syntax

In linguistics, syntax is the study of the principles and rules for constructing Sentence s in natural languages. In addition to referring to the discipline, the term syntax is also used to refer directly to the rules and principles that govern the sentence structure of any individual language, as in "the Irish syntax"....
 according to a head directionality parameter
Head directionality parameter

The Head directionality parameter is a proposed Principles and parameters that classifies word order. It provides a choice between:* head s follow phrases in forming larger phrases and...
 in word order
Word order

In linguistics, word order typology refers to the study of the different ways in which languages arrange the constituents of their sentences relative to each other, and the systematic correspondences of between these arrangements....
, 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
Morphology (linguistics)

Morphology is the identification, analysis and description of structure of words . While words are generally accepted as being the smallest units of syntax, it is clear that in most languages, words can be related to other words by rules....
 according to whether a phrase is head marking
Head-marking language

A head-marking language is one where the grammar marks showing relations between different Constituent of a phrase tend to be placed on the Head of the phrase in question, rather than the modifiers or dependents....
 or dependent marking
Dependent-marking language

A dependent-marking language is one where the Marker s showing relations between different constituents of a phrase tend to be placed on the Syntax#Dependency grammars or Grammatical modifier, rather than the Head of the phrase in question....
.

However, these simple dichotomies run into problems when they are 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 is difficult find a definition of 'head' that is 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
Prosodic unit

In linguistics, a prosody unit, often called an intonation unit or intonational phrase, is a segment of speech that occurs with a single Prosody ....
, the head is that part which extends from the first stressed syllable up to (but not including) the tonic syllable. A 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 ?bus was late.

A 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 ?bus was late.

See also

  • Head-driven phrase structure grammar
    Head-driven phrase structure grammar

    Head-driven phrase structure grammar is a highly lexicalized, non-derivational generative grammar theory developed by Carl Pollard and Ivan Sag ....
  • Head directionality parameter
    Head directionality parameter

    The Head directionality parameter is a proposed Principles and parameters that classifies word order. It provides a choice between:* head s follow phrases in forming larger phrases and...
  • Head-marking language
    Head-marking language

    A head-marking language is one where the grammar marks showing relations between different Constituent of a phrase tend to be placed on the Head of the phrase in question, rather than the modifiers or dependents....