Printer Friendly
Dictionary, Encyclopedia and Thesaurus - The Free Dictionary
3,910,005,960 visitors served.
forum Join the Word of the Day Mailing List For webmasters
?
Dictionary/
thesaurus
Medical
dictionary
Legal
dictionary
Financial
dictionary
Acronyms
 
Idioms
Encyclopedia
Wikipedia
encyclopedia
?

ergativity
(redirected from ergative)

    Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Wikipedia 0.01 sec.

ergativity

Tendency of a language to pair the subject, or agent, of an intransitive verb with the object, or patient, of a transitive verb. This contrasts with the situation in nominative-accusative languages such as Latin or English, in which the subjects of both transitive and intransitive verbs are paired grammatically and distinguished from the object of a transitive verb. Languages or language families that display ergativity to varying degrees include Sumerian, Caucasian languages, Eskimo-Aleut, Maya, Australian Aboriginal languages, and many American Indian languages.
Want to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, add the site to iGoogle, or visit the webmaster's page for free fun content.
?Page tools
Printer friendly
Cite / link 		Feedback
Mentioned in?  References in periodicals archive?   Encyclopedia browser?   Full browser?
No references found
 
3 Ergative constructions As shown in the chart above, in these constructions functions I and III are equivalent and they contrast with II.
Unmarked object in the Uralic languages. A diachronic typological ... by Havas, Ferenc / Linguistica Uralica
Then she considers such topics as grammatical relations, linking theories, the ergative dragon, and the semantics of case.
Theories of case by Reference & Research Book News
The ergative constructions exhibit a pattern of split ergativity based on a person hierarchy.
The Structure of Kiranti Languages: Comparative Grammar and Texts by Rapacha, Lal / Contributions to Nepalese Studies
 
 
 
Encyclopedia
?

Terms of Use | Privacy policy | Feedback | Advertise with Us | Copyright © 2012 Farlex, Inc.
Disclaimer
All content on this website, including dictionary, thesaurus, literature, geography, and other reference data is for informational purposes only. This information should not be considered complete, up to date, and is not intended to be used in place of a visit, consultation, or advice of a legal, medical, or any other professional.