EN
Several authors have recently pointed out that under certain conditions, a language can have both left-headed and right-headed compounding patterns. As contemporary Italian N-N compounds seem to encompass this phenomenon, the present article aims to examine parameters that determine or indicate the head position in these cases. Our hypotheses are based on a qualitative sample drawn from the Gradit dictionary and are further verified by a quantitative study about “mirror compounds” (radiogiornale vs. giornale radio) on the ItWac corpus. The position of the head in N-N compounds is claimed to show a strong correlation with “tight” and “loose” orthography. In conclusion, possible explanations of this phenomenon as well as open questions for future research are suggested.