Coordinate compounds do not have a syntactic head, i.e., it is not the case that one item is modifying the other. A native endocentric coordinate compound is, for example, father^mother ‘parents’ (Figure a.), which does not refer to a type of mother or father. In this case, the meaning of the parts adds up to the meaning of the whole. This is also the reason why the meaning of the compound is predictable from the parts and thus endocentric.
A native exocentric coordinate compound is beard^staff ‘Sinterklaas’ (the Dutch Santa Claus) (Figure b.), since Sinterklaas is not a type of beard or staff. Additionally, it is considered exocentric because the composition of these two elements does not necessarily lead to Sinterklaas.
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a. father^mother ‘parents’
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b. beard^staff ‘Sinterklaas’ |