- Note: It is advised to read about Branching before reading this.
The Head directionality parameter is a parameter in languages. Languages can be either head final or head first, though many languages are not exclusively one of the two and may depending on what part of the language differ, or the language may simply not have a preference.
Phrase | Head | Example |
---|---|---|
Noun Phrase | Noun | The red dog |
Verb Phrase | Verb | ate dogs |
Adpositional Phrase | Adposition | on the sofa |
Head First[]
Characteristics:
- Verb Subject Object (VSO) Word order
- Prepositions (relationship words are located before the main word)
- Nouns are preceded by their genitive markings.
- Nouns are preceded by adjectives.
Head Final[]
Characteristics:
- Subject Object Verb (SOV) Word order
- Postpositions (relationship words are located after the main word)
- Nouns are succeeded by their genitive markings.
- Nouns are succeeded by adjectives.
Head Mixture[]
Head Mixtures languages contain a mix of the above characteristics. They are typically Subject Verb Object or Object Verb Subject word order.
An example of a head mixture language is English.
Part | Head | Example | |
---|---|---|---|
Adposition | First | on the sofa | |
Adjectives | Regular | Final | black dog |
Clause | First | the dog which i like | |
Genitive | Both | dog's house, house of the dog |
See also[]
- Antisymmetry
- Branching
- Principles and parameters
- Word order