Editing Dependent-marking language (section)

A '''dependent-marking language''' has grammatical markers of [[Agreement (linguistics)|agreement]] and [[case government]] between the words of [[phrase]]s that tend to appear more on [[Dependent (grammar)|dependents]] than on [[head (linguistics)|head]]s. The distinction between [[head-marking language|head-marking]] and dependent-marking was first explored by [[Johanna Nichols]] in 1986,<ref>See Nichols (1986, 1992).</ref> and has since become a central criterion in language typology in which languages are classified according to whether they are more head-marking or dependent-marking. Many languages employ both head and dependent-marking, but some employ [[Double-marking language|double-marking]], and yet others employ [[Zero-marking language|zero-marking]]. However, it is not clear that the head of a clause has anything to do with the head of a noun phrase, or even what the head of a clause is.