The Head-marking language reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Head-marking language

A head-marking language is one where the grammatical marks showing relations between different constituents of a phrase tend to be placed on the heads (or nuclei) of the phrase in question, rather than the modifiers or dependents.

For example, in Basque, the verb (or its auxiliary) is marked showing the person and number of its subject, its direct object and even its indirect object if applicable.

"Zuk asko dakizu."

zuk     asko dakizu

you-ERG much it-know-you 

"You know a lot."

"Arazo hau ikuserazi digute."

arazo   hau  ikuserazi digute 

problem this see-cause it-have-us-they

"They have made us see this problem."

See also: dependent-marking language

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