The Righthand Head Rule in Compounds
Another area of morphology where the righthand head rule seems applicable is that of compounding (i.e. the creation of a word by combining two or more other words), in which it holds that the righthand word provides both the essential semantic information and the word class.
For instance, the noun 'fightsport' combines a verb and a noun. Since it refers primarily to a kind of sport rather than the act of fighting, and since it is a noun and not a verb, the head is 'sport', which appears to the right.
The noun 'wheel chair' combines two nouns. The primary element is the righthand one - namely, 'chair' - since the word refers to a kind of chair rather than a kind of wheel.
Again formalizations show that the underlying principle must be the righthand head rule:
- fightV + sportN = fightsportN (kind of sport)
- wheelN + chairN = wheel chairN (kind of chair)
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