Head directionality parameter
Encyclopedia
In linguistics
, the head directionality parameter is a proposed parameter
that classifies word order
accordingly to the placement of the head
stem, which can be either:
This assumes the language has a fixed word order in that part of its grammar to begin with. English
and Romance languages
are often given as examples of head-first languages, whereas Japanese
and Basque
are often given as examples of head-last languages, meaning that these languages have a consistent word order across all areas of their grammar. For example, English, German, and Japanese each construct subordinate clauses (with verbs as their heads) in different ways:
However, this simple dichotomy runs into two problems when used to classify entire languages in this way: Many languages, even considering only those with relatively fixed word orders, are not consistently either head initial or final across different areas of their grammar; and it is difficult find a definition of 'head' that is consistent across these different areas. For instance, either the subject or the verb may be considered the 'head' of the clause
, yielding results as to which languages are considered head initial, or whether word order is consistent between, say, clauses and noun phrase
s, that are theory dependent rather than descriptive.
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
, the head directionality parameter is a proposed parameter
Principles and parameters
Principles and parameters is a framework within generative linguistics in which the syntax of a natural language is described in accordance with general principles and specific parameters that for particular languages are either turned on or off...
that classifies word order
Word order
In linguistics, word order typology refers to the study of the order of the syntactic constituents of a language, and how different languages can employ different orders. Correlations between orders found in different syntactic subdomains are also of interest...
accordingly to the placement of the head
Head (linguistics)
In linguistics, the head is the word that determines the syntactic type of the phrase of which it is a member, or analogously the stem that determines the semantic category of a compound of which it is a component. The other elements modify the head....
stem, which can be either:
- Head-final (or head-last): HeadHead (linguistics)In linguistics, the head is the word that determines the syntactic type of the phrase of which it is a member, or analogously the stem that determines the semantic category of a compound of which it is a component. The other elements modify the head....
s follow phrasePhraseIn everyday speech, a phrase may refer to any group of words. In linguistics, a phrase is a group of words which form a constituent and so function as a single unit in the syntax of a sentence. A phrase is lower on the grammatical hierarchy than a clause....
s in forming larger phrases - Head-initial (or head-first): Heads precede phrases in forming larger phrases
This assumes the language has a fixed word order in that part of its grammar to begin with. English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
and Romance languages
Romance languages
The Romance languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family, more precisely of the Italic languages subfamily, comprising all the languages that descend from Vulgar Latin, the language of ancient Rome...
are often given as examples of head-first languages, whereas Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
and Basque
Basque language
Basque is the ancestral language of the Basque people, who inhabit the Basque Country, a region spanning an area in northeastern Spain and southwestern France. It is spoken by 25.7% of Basques in all territories...
are often given as examples of head-last languages, meaning that these languages have a consistent word order across all areas of their grammar. For example, English, German, and Japanese each construct subordinate clauses (with verbs as their heads) in different ways:
- English (head initial) John has put the book on the table.
- German (head-final) Jan hat das Buch auf den Tisch gelegt, dt.:[John-has the-book on-the-table put].
- Japanese (head-final) Jon wa tēburu-no ue-ni hon-o oite iru (ジョンはテーブルの上に本を置いている) dt. [Jon-[affix] table-[of] top-[by] book-[a] putting-areAREAre, ARE or Åre may refer to: United Arab Emirates using ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 country code*The second-person singular and plural forms of the verb "to be", copula of the English language...
However, this simple dichotomy runs into two problems when used to classify entire languages in this way: Many languages, even considering only those with relatively fixed word orders, are not consistently either head initial or final across different areas of their grammar; and it is difficult find a definition of 'head' that is consistent across these different areas. For instance, either the subject or the verb may be considered the 'head' of the clause
Clause
In grammar, a clause is the smallest grammatical unit that can express a complete proposition. In some languages it may be a pair or group of words that consists of a subject and a predicate, although in other languages in certain clauses the subject may not appear explicitly as a noun phrase,...
, yielding results as to which languages are considered head initial, or whether word order is consistent between, say, clauses and noun phrase
Noun phrase
In grammar, a noun phrase, nominal phrase, or nominal group is a phrase based on a noun, pronoun, or other noun-like word optionally accompanied by modifiers such as adjectives....
s, that are theory dependent rather than descriptive.
See also
- AntisymmetryAntisymmetryIn linguistics, antisymmetry is a theory of syntactic linearization presented in Richard Kayne's 1994 monograph The Antisymmetry of Syntax. The crux of this theory is that hierarchical structure in natural language maps universally onto a particular surface linearization, namely...
- Branching (linguistics)Branching (linguistics)In linguistics, branching is the general tendency towards a given order of words within sentences and smaller grammatical units within sentences...
- Principles and parametersPrinciples and parametersPrinciples and parameters is a framework within generative linguistics in which the syntax of a natural language is described in accordance with general principles and specific parameters that for particular languages are either turned on or off...
- Word orderWord orderIn linguistics, word order typology refers to the study of the order of the syntactic constituents of a language, and how different languages can employ different orders. Correlations between orders found in different syntactic subdomains are also of interest...