How do non-Pama-Nyungan languages mark subjects and objects on verbs?
In most non-Pama-Nyungan languages, subjects and objects are marked through verbal inflection rather than through case marking on nouns.1
In these languages, the verb incorporates pronominal markers that indicate the subject and object, alongside other grammatical categories such as tense, aspect, and mood. For example, in languages like Nunggubuyu, which make little use of noun case marking, a sentence such as "A big man saw you" would be expressed by combining the noun with a verb form that includes the pronominal markers for the subject and object (e.g., "man + he-you-see" in the past tense). This system contrasts with many Pama-Nyungan languages, which rely heavily on ergative and accusative case suffixes attached to independent nouns and pronouns to clarify grammatical roles.1