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Re: THEORY: two questions

From:Matt Pearson <jmpearson@...>
Date:Monday, March 27, 2000, 23:02
>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.