"Like lightning" is a comparative exocentric construction
Exocentric is an adjective that is used in the field of grammar to describe the syntactic construction or compound that lacks a nucleus . The idea of nucleus, in this framework, refers to the element that confers the most important properties to a syntactic or morphological unit.
elliptical compound
A compound is exocentric when it refers to something that is not indicated in the compound itself . That is why it is also known as an elliptical compound . We speak of an exocentric syntactic construction if it does not have elements that can be substitutes for its entirety.
The American linguist and philologist Leonard Bloomfield (1887-1949) is identified as the person responsible for the development of this type of notions. Bloomfield analyzed how constituents are organized into units of greater complexity, distinguishing between exocentric constructions and endocentric constructions .
If the resulting phrase has a different function from that of its constituents, and therefore lacks elements that represent it in an integral way, it is an exocentric construction. Sentences with a link between the subject and the predicate are usually exocentric because no element fully determines it in a specific way.
The syntactic construction
This concept, which is also known by the name syntactic constituent , is defined as one or more words (in the latter case it must be a sequence ), which has a joint function as if it were a unit and is located in a sentence, occupying its own place in its hierarchical structure.
Usually, the syntactic construction can be decomposed into two or more parts, and each of them has its own constituent. All of them, within the context of the same sentence, form the so-called ordered set . It is important to note that not all word sequences are constituents, but must pass certain tests to be recognized as such.
Hierarchical differentiation
The concept of exocentric, in short, is associated with the kinds of relationships that are established between words based on the existence, or not, of a hierarchical differentiation . Structures that are made up of words with the same hierarchical level forge an exocentric link, where there is no center around which to gather.
Thus, each part is constructed by distancing itself from the other: it opposes and establishes its own environment around it. Returning to what was said about sentences with subject and predicate, the parts are recognized by opposition to the others.
Exocentric and endocentric
In our language, the presence of endocentric and exocentric constructions occurs naturally and constantly , every day, in most of our messages. This happens because they are two basic structures, whose complexity can only be appreciated when we begin to break them down into each of their components and when we contemplate all the possible combinations . However, at first glance we have the difference that consists of the presence or absence of a nucleus.
The parts of an exocentric construction have the same hierarchical level
The endocentric construction always has a nucleus, which can be of many types: noun, adjective, adverb, verb, etc. The important thing is that that word or sequence of words is the center (hence, the name of the concept) and that it is affected by modifiers, which can be direct or indirect. Let's look at an example: in the endocentric construction "The police building" we have a nucleus (the noun "building" ), a direct modifier ( "the" ) and an indirect one ( "of the police" ).
Once again, we highlight that the exocentric construction does not have a nucleus, but rather its structure is composed of a subordinating nexus and a term ; for example: "in suspense" . It can also be given in a comparison: "like lightning" , where the link is "like" and the rest is the term. We should not be confused by the presence of a noun in either case, since these are not the subjects of the sentence, but must necessarily be accompanied by the link to preserve the meaning of the construction.