Explanation
Exocentricity means the absence of an internal head in an explicitly defined sense. In the bahuvrihi context, the initial concern is semantic exocentricity: the whole does not denote a subtype of a component, but may denote a person with a characteristic property. This does not automatically mean that no component determines any grammatical properties of the compound. Reference, category and inflection must therefore be tested separately. The concept is only as precise as the definition of head on which it depends.
Movement of thought
1. State the head criterion. 2. Identify the reference of the whole. 3. Test a possible kind-of relation. 4. Examine category and inflection independently.
Scientific use case
A study of compounds could annotate semantic headlessness separately from inheritance of formal properties.
Example
In the constructed German use “Unser neuer Rotkopf kam herein”, Rotkopf denotes a person, not a subtype of head.
Counterexample
Archivlampe in its ordinary constructed use denotes a lamp. A conspicuous or newly coined word is not thereby exocentric.
Distinction
Distinguish opacity and unusualness. Bahuvrihi supplies a possible semantically exocentric type, not a definition of every kind of formal headlessness.
Effect on thought and perception
The analysis shows when the whole expression points beyond the referents of its visible parts.
Resonance
The parts point towards something that none of them names alone.
Provenance
Parallel source review reconciled 2026-10-07; human specialist review not claimed.
Cite this entry
Reich, Michael (Hrsg./ed.): „Exocentricity“. Atlas der Sprache, AT-NAV-G02-050. ATLAS 259, data model 1.6.0. https://atlasoflanguage.com/concept/AT-NAV-G02-050The address remains stable; editorial content may evolve. Editorial reading state: 2026-10-15. Include your access date for precise references.