ABSTRACT
Following a suggestion by Williams (1981), analogy of the structure of complex words ( word formation) with the structural principles of phrases, especially with that of Xbar syntax ( X-bar theory). As in phrasal syntax, the head constituent determines the features of the whole word over the percolation mechanism, which is known from the syntax. In particular, the concept of ‘head’ is taken over in word structure in a variant that defines it according to its position, which constitutes a parameter determined by the individual languages. In English and German the head is on the right, in Hebrew and perhaps French on the left. In a relativized variant of the head concept, Di Scuillo and Williams (1987), unlike Selkirk (1982), assume that the inflectional affixes can function like the derivational suffixes as (relativized) heads with regard to the inflectional structure of the word. The set of categories in word structure is smaller than in the phrase syntax: the lexical categories N, A, V, and P (abbreviated: Xº) alone appear to participate in word formation processes, together with the bound affixes. Still, it is debated whether syntactic categories like NP, VP, and S can occur as non-head constituents. ( also syntactic affixation)
References
Selkirk, E. 1982. The syntax of words. Cambridge. Di Sciullo, A.M. and E.Williams 1987. On the definition of word. Cambridge, MA. Williams, E. 1981. On the notions ‘lexically related’ and ‘head of word.’ LingI 12.245-74.
