Preposition: of

• village: The headman of a village is the oldest male of the dominant subclan.

Possessives

• house: Pretty as a picture The pilgrims are welcomed to a village headman's house.

• family: The nucleus of a commoner Bemba village consists of the headman's matrilocal extended family.

• ax: Thomas More and Thomas Cromwell, whose convictions and policies could scarcely have been more different, both perished beneath the headman's ax.

• relative: The matrilineal relatives of the subclan that owns the village, the headman's relatives, are the nobility.

Adjective modifier

• own: All villages are subdivided into hamlets, each with its own headman, an indigenous office.

• local: The local headman pointed out to us an overgrown site telling the tale that it was a Japanese war cemetery.

• tribal: It is interesting to see that the duties of the tribal headman in Freetown were almost identical.

• young: Without such support a young headman could not entertain.