diff --git a/deps/tree-sitter-lang b/deps/tree-sitter-lang
index 17a67d2..6b09331 160000
--- a/deps/tree-sitter-lang
+++ b/deps/tree-sitter-lang
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Subproject commit 17a67d236113bf22fa516c08d2872f35b06dae9c
+Subproject commit 6b093311dfb371cf67a218a8c97779ae5e15e234
diff --git a/src/builders/statement_builders.cpp b/src/builders/statement_builders.cpp
index 5d6c140..e8f6e69 100644
--- a/src/builders/statement_builders.cpp
+++ b/src/builders/statement_builders.cpp
@@ -174,18 +174,19 @@ parser::ParseTree::Node collect_symbol_doc_nodes(
   return current_node;
 }
 
-// definition_info? annotation_info* '^'? (simple_type_identifier | typeclass)
+// definition_info? annotation_info* '<>'? (simple_type_identifier | typeclass)
 // (argument_type* '=' type)? ';'
 nodes::TypeDefinition build_type_definition(parser::ParseTree::Node parser_node,
                                             nodes::TypeStorage &type_storage) {
-  bool is_on_heap = parser_node.nth_child(0).get_value() == "^";
-
   std::optional<parser::ParseTree::Node> description_node;
   std::vector<parser::ParseTree::Node> annotation_nodes;
 
   auto name_node = collect_symbol_doc_nodes(parser_node.nth_named_child(0),
                                             description_node, annotation_nodes);
 
+  bool is_on_heap = !name_node.previous_sibling().is_null() &&
+                    name_node.previous_sibling().get_value() == "<>";
+
   nodes::Identifier name = build_identifier(name_node);
 
   bool is_typeclass = (name.get_type() == nodes::Identifier::TYPECLASS);
diff --git a/src/builders/type_builders.cpp b/src/builders/type_builders.cpp
index 6f3f5fa..64aae9a 100644
--- a/src/builders/type_builders.cpp
+++ b/src/builders/type_builders.cpp
@@ -87,13 +87,12 @@ nodes::TypeProxy build_array_type(parser::ParseTree::Node parser_node,
       build_node(parser_node));
 }
 
-// TODO: add different reference types
-// '^' type
+// _reference_ type
 nodes::TypeProxy build_reference_type(parser::ParseTree::Node parser_node,
                                       nodes::TypeStorage &type_storage) {
   nodes::TypeProxy type =
       build_type(parser_node.nth_named_child(0), type_storage);
-  type.get()->set_modifier(nodes::Modifier::REF);
+  type.get()->set_modifier(build_modifier(parser_node.nth_child(0)));
   return type;
 }
 
diff --git a/src/printers/statement_printers.cpp b/src/printers/statement_printers.cpp
index 4098644..71000e8 100644
--- a/src/printers/statement_printers.cpp
+++ b/src/printers/statement_printers.cpp
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ void print_type_definition(const nodes::TypeDefinition &statement,
   print_docs(*statement.get_docs(), printer);
 
   if (statement.is_on_heap()) {
-    printer.print("^");
+    printer.print("<> ");
   }
 
   print_identifier(*statement.get_name(), printer);
diff --git a/src/printers/type_printers.cpp b/src/printers/type_printers.cpp
index ca4644b..4455a92 100644
--- a/src/printers/type_printers.cpp
+++ b/src/printers/type_printers.cpp
@@ -7,9 +7,8 @@ namespace printers {
 
 // TODO: better printing format for builtin types
 void print_type(const nodes::Type &type, printers::Printer &printer) {
-  // TODO: more modifier types
-  if (type.get_modifier() == nodes::Modifier::REF) {
-    printer.print("^");
+  if (type.get_modifier() != nodes::Modifier::CONST) {
+    print_modifier(type.get_modifier(), printer);
   }
 
   if (type.get_annotation().has_value()) {
diff --git a/tests/test.langexp b/tests/test.langexp
index 64964b8..e5c2e39 100644
--- a/tests/test.langexp
+++ b/tests/test.langexp
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-
 #!/usr/bin/env lang
 
 :: module; // import module to current namespace
@@ -146,13 +145,13 @@ bubble_sort_2 'arr : ref Array['A] = {
   };
 }
 
-: example of ^ and generics. ^ used to denote that this object allocated on heap
+: example of <> and generics. <> (in type definition) used to denote that this object allocated on heap
 : object allocated by unique reference by default
-^TreeNode 'Key 'Value =
+<> TreeNode 'Key 'Value =
   & @key Key
   & @value Value
-  & @left ^TreeNode['Key 'Value]
-  & @right ^TreeNode['Key 'Value];
+  & @left <> TreeNode['Key 'Value]
+  & @right <> TreeNode['Key 'Value];
 
 .new = do_something; // static methods