Head-marking Vs. Dependent-marking
It is also common to classify language morphology according to whether a phrase is head-marking or dependent-marking. A given dependency is head-marking, if something about the dependent influences the form of the head, and a given dependency is dependent-marking, if something about the head influences the form of the dependent.
For instance, in the English possessive case, possessive marking ('s) appears on the dependent (the possessor), whereas in Hungarian possessive marking appears on the head noun:
| English: | the man's house | |
| Hungarian: | az ember ház-a (the man house-POSSESSIVE) |
Read more about this topic: Head (linguistics)