Marker (linguistics)
Encyclopedia
In linguistics
, a marker is a free or bound morpheme
that indicates the grammatical function
of the marked word, phrase, or sentence. In analytic languages and agglutinative language
s, markers are generally easily distinguished. In fusional language
s and polysynthetic language
s, this is often not the case. For example: in Latin -- a highly fusional language -- the word amo ("I love") is marked by suffix -o for indicative mood, active voice, first person, singular, present tense. Analytic languages tend to have a relatively limited number of markers.
Markers should be distinguished from the linguistic concept of markedness
. An unmarked form is the basic "neutral" form of a word, typically used as its dictionary lemma, such as -– in English -– for nouns the singular (e.g. cat versus cats), and for verbs the infinitive (e.g. to eat versus eats, ate and eaten). Unmarked forms (e.g. the nominative case
in many languages) tend to be less likely to have markers, but this is not true for all languages (compare Latin
). Conversely, a marked form may happen to have a zero affix
, like the genitive
plural of some nouns in Russian
. In some languages, the same forms of a marker have more than one function, such as when used in different cases or declension
s (for example -is in Latin).
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....
, a marker is a free or bound morpheme
Morpheme
In linguistics, a morpheme is the smallest semantically meaningful unit in a language. The field of study dedicated to morphemes is called morphology. A morpheme is not identical to a word, and the principal difference between the two is that a morpheme may or may not stand alone, whereas a word,...
that indicates the grammatical function
Grammatical function
In linguistics, grammatical functions refer to functional relationships between participants in a proposition...
of the marked word, phrase, or sentence. In analytic languages and agglutinative language
Agglutinative language
An agglutinative language is a language that uses agglutination extensively: most words are formed by joining morphemes together. This term was introduced by Wilhelm von Humboldt in 1836 to classify languages from a morphological point of view...
s, markers are generally easily distinguished. In fusional language
Fusional language
A fusional language is a type of synthetic language, distinguished from agglutinative languages by its tendency to overlay many morphemes in a way that can be difficult to segment....
s and polysynthetic language
Polysynthetic language
In linguistic typology, polysynthetic languages are highly synthetic languages, i.e., languages in which words are composed of many morphemes. Whereas isolating languages have a low morpheme-to-word ratio, polysynthetic languages have extremely high morpheme-to-word ratios.Not all languages can be...
s, this is often not the case. For example: in Latin -- a highly fusional language -- the word amo ("I love") is marked by suffix -o for indicative mood, active voice, first person, singular, present tense. Analytic languages tend to have a relatively limited number of markers.
Markers should be distinguished from the linguistic concept of markedness
Markedness
Markedness is a specific kind of asymmetry relationship between elements of linguistic or conceptual structure. In a marked-unmarked relation, one term of an opposition is the broader, dominant one...
. An unmarked form is the basic "neutral" form of a word, typically used as its dictionary lemma, such as -– in English -– for nouns the singular (e.g. cat versus cats), and for verbs the infinitive (e.g. to eat versus eats, ate and eaten). Unmarked forms (e.g. the nominative case
Nominative case
The nominative case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb or the predicate noun or predicate adjective, as opposed to its object or other verb arguments...
in many languages) tend to be less likely to have markers, but this is not true for all languages (compare Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
). Conversely, a marked form may happen to have a zero affix
Zero (linguistics)
A zero, in linguistics, is a constituent needed in an analysis but not realized in speech. This implies that there is a lack of an element where a theory would expect one. It is usually written with the symbol "", in Unicode .There are several kind of zeros....
, like the genitive
Genitive case
In grammar, genitive is the grammatical case that marks a noun as modifying another noun...
plural of some nouns in Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
. In some languages, the same forms of a marker have more than one function, such as when used in different cases or declension
Declension
In linguistics, declension is the inflection of nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and articles to indicate number , case , and gender...
s (for example -is in Latin).
Examples
- EnglishEnglish languageEnglish 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...
: the suffix -s in dogs is a plural markerGrammatical numberIn linguistics, grammatical number is a grammatical category of nouns, pronouns, and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions ....
. - LatinLatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
: the suffix -is in flaminis is a case marker, specifically a genitive markerGenitive caseIn grammar, genitive is the grammatical case that marks a noun as modifying another noun...
. - SpanishSpanish languageSpanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
: the word hay in hay muchos libros en la biblioteca is an existential marker. - JapaneseJapanese languageis 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...
: the Japanese particle が (ga) as in 「誰が学生ですか。」[Dare ga gakusei desu ka.] 'Who's the student?' is a subject markerSubject (grammar)The subject is one of the two main constituents of a clause, according to a tradition that can be tracked back to Aristotle and that is associated with phrase structure grammars; the other constituent is the predicate. According to another tradition, i.e...
. - KoreanKorean languageKorean is the official language of the country Korea, in both South and North. It is also one of the two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in People's Republic of China. There are about 78 million Korean speakers worldwide. In the 15th century, a national writing...
: the Korean particle 은/는 (eun, neun) is a topic markerTopic-prominent languageA topic-prominent language is a language that organizes its syntax to emphasize the topic–comment structure of the sentence. The term is best known in American linguistics from Charles N...
, also known as a contrast particle.
Related topics
- AffixAffixAn affix is a morpheme that is attached to a word stem to form a new word. Affixes may be derivational, like English -ness and pre-, or inflectional, like English plural -s and past tense -ed. They are bound morphemes by definition; prefixes and suffixes may be separable affixes...
- LexemeLexemeA lexeme is an abstract unit of morphological analysis in linguistics, that roughly corresponds to a set of forms taken by a single word. For example, in the English language, run, runs, ran and running are forms of the same lexeme, conventionally written as RUN...
- MorphemeMorphemeIn linguistics, a morpheme is the smallest semantically meaningful unit in a language. The field of study dedicated to morphemes is called morphology. A morpheme is not identical to a word, and the principal difference between the two is that a morpheme may or may not stand alone, whereas a word,...
- MarkednessMarkednessMarkedness is a specific kind of asymmetry relationship between elements of linguistic or conceptual structure. In a marked-unmarked relation, one term of an opposition is the broader, dominant one...
- Lemma (morphology)
- Null morphemeNull morphemeIn morpheme-based morphology, a null morpheme is a morpheme that is realized by a phonologically null affix . In simpler terms, a null morpheme is an "invisible" affix. It is also called a zero morpheme; the process of adding a null morpheme is called null affixation, null derivation or zero...
- Uninflected wordUninflected wordIn the context of linguistic morphology, an uninflected word is a word that has no morphological markers such as affixes, ablaut, consonant gradation, etc., indicating declension or conjugation...
Types of marking
- Dependent-marking languageDependent-marking languageA dependent-marking language is one where the grammatical marks showing relations between different constituents of a phrase tend to be placed on the dependents or modifiers, rather than the heads of the phrase in question. In a noun phrase, the head is the main noun and the dependents are the...
- Head-marking languageHead-marking languageA head-marking language is one where the grammatical marks showing relations between different constituents of a phrase tend to be placed on the heads of the phrase in question, rather than the modifiers or dependents. In a noun phrase, the head is the main noun and the dependents are the...
- Double-marking languageDouble-marking languageA double-marking language is one where the grammatical marks showing relations between different constituents of a phrase tend to be placed on both the heads of the phrase in question, and on the modifiers or dependents...
- Zero-marking languageZero-marking languageA zero-marking language is one where there tend to be no grammatical marks on either the dependents or modifiers or the heads or nuclei showing the relationship between different constituents of a phrase....