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ergativity |
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ergativityTendency 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. |
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