Ergative

On Sat, 12 Apr 1997, Alfredo Reino wrote:

Is there any kind soul in the house who would explain in five lines what it is to be an "ergative" language?

[Clinton Moreland]

An ergative language is one that marks the agent/subject of intransitive verbs the same way in which it marks the patient/object of transitive ones. For example...

• miyan nuris. "I run"
• mi ligris vayan. "I kill you."

[David E. Bell]

In 5 lines more or less. An ergative language is one where there is a formal parallel between the object of a transitive verb and the subject of an intransitive verb (usually displaying the same case). This is generally in opposition to Nom/Acc languages which express a relationship between the subjects of both transitive and intransitive sentences. Thus:

• Nominative/Accusitive
  • the dog-NOM barks
  • the dog-NOM bites the man-ACC
• Ergative
  • the dog-ABSOL
  • the dog-ERG bites the man-ABSOL

[Mark P. Line]

The rationale behind the ergative/absolutive system is perhaps more obvious in such examples as these:

1. the man-ERG opened the door-ABSOL
   the door-ABSOL opened
2. the robber-ERG killed the shopkeeper-ABSOL
   the shopkeeper-ABSOL died
3. Tommy-ERG plays that_pinball_machine-ABSOL well
   that_pinball_machine-ABSOL plays well
4. I-ERG am cleaning the bedroom carpet-ABSOL
   the bedroom carpet-ABSOL cleans well

Copyright © 1997, Paul M. Hoffman,
Last updated: July 20, 1997