Re: THEORY: two questions

>From: "Matt Pearson"
>
>> >> Verb-initial, head-marking:     Marshallese, Chamorro (?)
>> >> Verb-initial, dep-marking:      Tagalog, Polynesian lgs
>> >> Verb-medial, head-marking:      Swahili, Mohawk
>> >> Verb-medial, dep-marking:       Russian
>> >> Verb-final, head-marking:       Lakhota, many Papuan lgs
>> >> Verb-final, dep-marking:        Japanese, Yidiny
>
>What's head-marking and dependent-marking again?
Depends on who you ask.  My definition:  A head-marking
language is one which keeps track of arguments (who did
what to whom) primarily by means of agreement on the verb,
while a dependent-marking language keeps track of arguments
primarily by means of case-marking on the noun phrases.
That is, "head" = the verb, while "dependents" = the noun
phrases.

Head-marking languages tend to express pronominal arguments
by means of agreement alone (pronouns are null, except in
emphatic contexts), while dependent-marking languages
tend to have independent case-marked pronouns even in
non-emphatic contexts.

For example, in a verb-final head-marking language,
"The boy gave me the books" might come out:

   boy   books  3sS-1sIO-3pDO-gave

with no case marking on the nouns, covert pronouns, and
extensive agreement on the verb ("3sS" = 3s subject
agreement, "1sIO" = 1s indirect object agreement, and
"3pDO" = 3p direct object agreement).

In a verb-final dependent-marking language, the same
sentence might come out:

   boy-NOM   me-DAT   books-ACC   gave

with case marking on the nouns (and overt pronouns), and
no agreement (or impoverished agreement) on the verb.

Matt.