Examines the notion of "head" in syntax and the extent to which it extends to morphology in English, and discusses the notion of headedness and percolation. The argument is made that percolation in English does not work, casting doubt on the notion of head in morphology. (34 references) (GLR)

Some of the problems inherent in a word-based hypothesis asserting that the word/stem is taken as the minimal sign not only for syntax but also for morphology are examined in an analysis of a polysynthetic language, Koyukon, an Athabaskan language of Alaska. Data from the Central dialect is considered in the analysis. A brief sketch of the verbal…