Part I: Compounding in Breton grammatical and logical head

Breton, a language rich in compounds with both initial and final heads, provides a unique opportunity to study the relation between the head of a compound and the meaning of the compound. A novel approach is proposed. The relation between the head and the meaning of a compound is captured by the distinction between grammatical and logical head. The grammatical head determines the syntax of the compound. It gives the grammatical category of the compound and is the locus of inflection. The logical head is determined by the logical relation between the two terms of the compound. When the grammatical head corresponds to the logical head, we have endocentricity. When the grammatical head does not correspond to the logical head, we have exocentricity. In the latter case the head is grammatical or logical; hence there are no headless compounds. The concept of grammatical and logical head can also be applied to derivation.