Nounmarking

Noun marking is a linguistic feature in which nouns or noun phrases carry markers that encode grammatical information such as case, number, gender, definiteness, or noun class. These markers can attach directly to the noun or to modifiers and determiners that accompany it, and they may be realized as prefixes, suffixes, or separate particles. Noun marking is a major aspect of how languages encode grammatical function and agreement, and it interacts with word order and article systems.

Case marking on nouns is common in many language families. It marks grammatical roles such as subject, object, and possession. Examples include Russian and German, which use case endings on nouns and articles; Finnish, with a rich case system; and Turkish, which employs postposed suffixes to indicate various cases and relations.

Noun class and gender marking add another layer of structure. In Bantu languages like Swahili, nouns belong to noun classes indicated by prefixes, and agreement on adjectives and verbs follows the class. In languages with grammatical gender, nouns may require gendered articles or concord with adjectives and verbs, even when case marking is limited or absent.

Number marking, including singular versus plural forms, is a common aspect of noun marking. Some languages also mark possession or definiteness on the noun itself or on accompanying determiners and demonstratives, influencing agreement across the noun phrase.

Across languages, the degree and type of noun marking vary widely. Some rely heavily on noun marking for syntactic and semantic information, while others use limited marking and rely more on word order and function words.