modifierheaded

Modifierheaded is a neologism used to describe a hypothetical class of phrase structures in which a modifier (such as an adjective or qualifier) serves as the syntactic head of the phrase, rather than the noun or verb that typically heads it. In a modifierheaded analysis, the head determines properties like agreement and the pattern of dependent elements, while the nominal or verbal element is treated as a dependent. This contrasts with common head-directionality patterns in many languages, where the noun phrase is headed by the noun (right-headed in English, for example) or by other canonical heads in specific constructions.

The term is not widely adopted in mainstream syntax and remains largely theoretical or experimental. It appears in discussions on cross-linguistic variation in head directionality, in dependency grammar experiments, or in the design of artificial languages and parsing models that test different notions of headhood. In practice, modifierheaded analyses are typically explored as a way to probe how much the head determines the structure of a phrase and how semantic interpretation relates to syntactic heading.

Example discussions are often hypothetical. In a modifierheaded noun phrase, one might analyze a phrase like “green field” with the head located on the modifier “green,” treating the noun as a dependent. Semantically the phrase refers to a field that is green, but syntactically the controlling head would be the modifier rather than the noun. This illustrates the conceptual contrast to standard head-driven analyses.

See also: head directionality, endocentric and exocentric constructions, noun phrase, dependency grammar, conlang terminology.