Ergative-absolutive language
Encyclopedia
An ergative–absolutive language
(or simply an ergative language) is a language that treats (i.e., case-marks) the argument
("subject
") of an intransitive verb
like the object
of a transitive verb, but differently from the agent
("subject") of a transitive verb
.
or morphological
equivalence (such as the same word order
or grammatical case
) for the object of a transitive verb and the single core argument of an intransitive verb, while treating the agent of a transitive verb differently.
This contrasts with nominative–accusative languages, such as English
, where the agent of a transitive verb and the single argument of an intransitive verb are treated alike (called a subject
) and kept distinct from the object of a transitive verb.
These different arguments are usually symbolized as follows:
The relationship between ergative and accusative systems can be schematically represented as the following:
See morphosyntactic alignment
for a more technical explanation and a comparison with nominative–accusative languages.
Note that the word subject, as it is typically defined in grammars of nominative–accusative languages, is inapplicable when referring to ergative–absolutive languages, or when discussing morphosyntactic alignment
in general.
Ergative languages tend to be either verb-final or verb-initial; there are few (if any) ergative SVO
-languages.
and syntactic behavior.
, then the verb argument
s are marked thus:
If there is no case marking, ergativity can be marked through other means, such as in verbal morphology. For instance, Abkhaz
and most Mayan languages
have no morphological ergative case, but they have verbal agreement structure which is ergative. In languages with ergative–absolutive agreement systems, the absolutive form is usually the most unmarked
form of a word.
The following Basque
examples demonstrate an ergative–absolutive case marking system:
In Basque, gizon is "man" and mutil is "boy". Gizon has a different case marking depending on whether it is the argument of a transitive or intransitive verb: the absolutive case, -a, and ergative case, -ak. In contrast, the core argument of the intransitive clause and the object of the transitive clause have the same absolutive case.
In contrast, Japanese
is a nominative–accusative language:
In this language, the argument of the intransitive and agent of the transitive sentence are marked with the same nominative case
particle ga, while the object of the transitive sentence is marked with the accusative case
o.
If we set:
A = agent of a transitive verb; S = argument of an intransitive verb; O = object of a transitive verb,
then we can contrast normal nominative–accusative English with a hypothetical ergative English:
Accusative English:
(S form = A form)
Hypothetical ergative English:
(S form = O form)
A number of languages have both ergative and accusative morphology. A typical example is a language that has nominative–accusative marking on verbs and ergative–absolutive case marking on nouns.
Georgian
also has an ergative alignment, but the agent is only marked with the ergative case in the past tense (also known as the "aorist screeve
"). Compare:
K'ac'- is the root of the word "man". In the first sentence (present continuous tense) the agent is in the nominative case (k'ac'i). In the second sentence, which shows ergative alignment, the root is marked with the ergative suffix -ma.
However, there are some intransitive verbs in Georgian that behave like transitive verbs, and therefore employ the ergative case in the past tense. Consider:
Although the verb sneeze is clearly intransitive, it is conjugated like a transitive verb. In Georgian there are a few verbs like these, and there has not been a clear-cut explanation as to why these verbs have evolved this way. One explanation is that verbs such as "sneeze" used to have a direct object (the object being "nose" in the case of "sneeze") and over time lost these objects, yet kept their transitive behavior.
Syntactic ergativity may appear in:
in contrast with English conjunction reduction. (The subscript (i) indicates coreference.)
English
(SVO word order):
Dyirbal
(OSV word order):
Many languages classified as ergative in fact show split ergativity, whereby syntactic and/or morphological ergative patterns are conditioned by the grammatical context, typically person or the tense/aspect of the verb. Basque is unusual in having an almost fully ergative system.
In Urdu and Hindi
, the ergative case is marked on agents in the preterite
and perfect
tenses for transitive and ditransitive verb
s, while in other situations agents appear in the nominative case.
In Dyirbal
, pronouns are morphologically nominative–accusative when the agent is first or second person, but ergative when the agent is a third person.
, parts of North America
and Mesoamerica
, the Tibetan Plateau
, and Australia
.
Some specific languages are the following:
Certain Australian Aboriginal languages
(e.g., Warlpiri
) possess an intransitive case
and an accusative case
along with an ergative case, and lack an absolutive case
; such languages are called ergative–accusative languages or tripartite language
s.
Many other languages have more limited ergativity, such as Pashto and Hindi
(Indo-Iranian
), where ergative behavior occurs only in the preterite and perfect tenses, and Georgian
, where ergativity only occurs in the aorist
.
The Philippine languages
(e.g. Tagalog
) are sometimes considered ergative (Schachter 1976, 1977; Kroeger 1993). However they would better be considered to have their own morphosyntactic alignment. See Austronesian alignment
.
Several scholars have hypothesized that Proto-Indo-European was an Ergative language. However, this hypothesis has not gone uncritiqued.
However, with a transitive verb, adding -ee does not produce a label for the person doing the action. Instead, it gives us a label for the person to whom the action is done:
Etymologically, the sense in which "-ee" denotes the object of a transitive verb is the original one,
arising from French past participles in "-é". This is still the prevalent sense in UK English:
the intransitive uses are all 19th-century American coinages and all except "escapee" are still marked as "chiefly U.S." by the Oxford English Dictionary.
English also has a number of so-called ergative verb
s, where the object of the verb when transitive is equivalent to the subject of the verb when intransitive.
Language
Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...
(or simply an ergative language) is a language that treats (i.e., case-marks) the argument
Verb argument
In linguistics, a verb argument is a phrase that appears in a syntactic relationship with the verb in a clause. In English, for example, the two most important arguments are the subject and the direct object....
("subject
Subject (grammar)
The subject is one of the two main constituents of a clause, according to a tradition that can be tracked back to Aristotle and that is associated with phrase structure grammars; the other constituent is the predicate. According to another tradition, i.e...
") of an intransitive verb
Intransitive verb
In grammar, an intransitive verb is a verb that has no object. This differs from a transitive verb, which takes one or more objects. Both classes of verb are related to the concept of the transitivity of a verb....
like the object
Object (grammar)
An object in grammar is part of a sentence, and often part of the predicate. It denotes somebody or something involved in the subject's "performance" of the verb. Basically, it is what or whom the verb is acting upon...
of a transitive verb, but differently from the agent
Agent (grammar)
In linguistics, a grammatical agent is the cause or initiator of an event. Agent is the name of the thematic role...
("subject") of a transitive verb
Transitive verb
In syntax, a transitive verb is a verb that requires both a direct subject and one or more objects. The term is used to contrast intransitive verbs, which do not have objects.-Examples:Some examples of sentences with transitive verbs:...
.
Ergative vs. accusative languages
An ergative language maintains a syntacticSyntax
In linguistics, syntax is the study of the principles and rules for constructing phrases and sentences in natural languages....
or morphological
Morphology (linguistics)
In linguistics, morphology is the identification, analysis and description, in a language, of the structure of morphemes and other linguistic units, such as words, affixes, parts of speech, intonation/stress, or implied context...
equivalence (such as the same word order
Word order
In linguistics, word order typology refers to the study of the order of the syntactic constituents of a language, and how different languages can employ different orders. Correlations between orders found in different syntactic subdomains are also of interest...
or grammatical case
Grammatical case
In grammar, the case of a noun or pronoun is an inflectional form that indicates its grammatical function in a phrase, clause, or sentence. For example, a pronoun may play the role of subject , of direct object , or of possessor...
) for the object of a transitive verb and the single core argument of an intransitive verb, while treating the agent of a transitive verb differently.
This contrasts with nominative–accusative languages, such as English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, where the agent of a transitive verb and the single argument of an intransitive verb are treated alike (called a subject
Subject (grammar)
The subject is one of the two main constituents of a clause, according to a tradition that can be tracked back to Aristotle and that is associated with phrase structure grammars; the other constituent is the predicate. According to another tradition, i.e...
) and kept distinct from the object of a transitive verb.
These different arguments are usually symbolized as follows:
- O = object of transitive verb (also symbolized as P for ‘patient’)
- S = core argument of intransitive verb
- A = agent of transitive verb
The relationship between ergative and accusative systems can be schematically represented as the following:
| Ergative–absolutive | Nominative–accusative | |
|---|---|---|
| O | same | different |
| S | same | same |
| A | different | same |
See morphosyntactic alignment
Morphosyntactic alignment
In linguistics, morphosyntactic alignment is the system used to distinguish between the arguments of transitive verbs and those of intransitive verbs...
for a more technical explanation and a comparison with nominative–accusative languages.
Note that the word subject, as it is typically defined in grammars of nominative–accusative languages, is inapplicable when referring to ergative–absolutive languages, or when discussing morphosyntactic alignment
Morphosyntactic alignment
In linguistics, morphosyntactic alignment is the system used to distinguish between the arguments of transitive verbs and those of intransitive verbs...
in general.
Ergative languages tend to be either verb-final or verb-initial; there are few (if any) ergative SVO
SVO
SVO is an acronym for several terms:* Mustang SVO, a car developed by Ford Motor Company* Saturn Valley Online, an EarthBound MMORPG.* Sheremetyevo International Airport in Moscow, Russia, IATA Airport Code...
-languages.
Realization of ergativity
Ergativity can be found in both morphologicalMorphology (linguistics)
In linguistics, morphology is the identification, analysis and description, in a language, of the structure of morphemes and other linguistic units, such as words, affixes, parts of speech, intonation/stress, or implied context...
and syntactic behavior.
Morphological ergativity
If the language has morphological caseGrammatical case
In grammar, the case of a noun or pronoun is an inflectional form that indicates its grammatical function in a phrase, clause, or sentence. For example, a pronoun may play the role of subject , of direct object , or of possessor...
, then the verb argument
Verb argument
In linguistics, a verb argument is a phrase that appears in a syntactic relationship with the verb in a clause. In English, for example, the two most important arguments are the subject and the direct object....
s are marked thus:
- The agent of a transitive verb (A) is marked with ergative caseErgative caseThe ergative case is the grammatical case that identifies the subject of a transitive verb in ergative-absolutive languages.-Characteristics:...
. - The core argument of an intransitive verb (S) and the object of a transitive verb (O) are both marked with absolutive caseAbsolutive caseThe absolutive case is the unmarked grammatical case of a core argument of a verb which is used as the citation form of a noun.-In ergative languages:...
.
If there is no case marking, ergativity can be marked through other means, such as in verbal morphology. For instance, Abkhaz
Abkhaz language
Abkhaz is a Northwest Caucasian language spoken mainly by the Abkhaz people. It is the official language of Abkhazia where around 100,000 people speak it. Furthermore, it is spoken by thousands of members of the Abkhazian diaspora in Turkey, Georgia's autonomous republic of Adjara, Syria, Jordan...
and most Mayan languages
Mayan languages
The Mayan languages form a language family spoken in Mesoamerica and northern Central America. Mayan languages are spoken by at least 6 million indigenous Maya, primarily in Guatemala, Mexico, Belize and Honduras...
have no morphological ergative case, but they have verbal agreement structure which is ergative. In languages with ergative–absolutive agreement systems, the absolutive form is usually the most unmarked
Markedness
Markedness is a specific kind of asymmetry relationship between elements of linguistic or conceptual structure. In a marked-unmarked relation, one term of an opposition is the broader, dominant one...
form of a word.
The following Basque
Basque language
Basque is the ancestral language of the Basque people, who inhabit the Basque Country, a region spanning an area in northeastern Spain and southwestern France. It is spoken by 25.7% of Basques in all territories...
examples demonstrate an ergative–absolutive case marking system:
| Ergative Language | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sentence: | Gizona etorri da. | Gizonak mutila ikusi du. | ||||
| Word: | gizon-a | etorri da | gizon-ak | mutil-a | ikusi du | |
| Gloss: | man-ABS | has arrived | man-ERG | boy-ABS | saw | |
| Function: | S | VERBintrans | A | O | VERBtrans | |
| Translation: | ‘The man has arrived.’ | ‘The man saw the boy.’ | ||||
In Basque, gizon is "man" and mutil is "boy". Gizon has a different case marking depending on whether it is the argument of a transitive or intransitive verb: the absolutive case, -a, and ergative case, -ak. In contrast, the core argument of the intransitive clause and the object of the transitive clause have the same absolutive case.
In contrast, Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
is a nominative–accusative language:
| Accusative Language | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sentence: | Otoko ga tsuita. | Otoko ga kodomo o mita. | ||||
| Words: | otoko ga | tsuita | otoko ga | kodomo o | mita | |
| Gloss: | man NOM | arrived | man NOM | child ACC | saw | |
| Function: | S | VERBintrans | A | O | VERBtrans | |
| Translation: | ‘The man arrived.’ | ‘The man saw the child.’ | ||||
In this language, the argument of the intransitive and agent of the transitive sentence are marked with the same nominative case
Nominative case
The nominative case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb or the predicate noun or predicate adjective, as opposed to its object or other verb arguments...
particle ga, while the object of the transitive sentence is marked with the accusative case
Accusative case
The accusative case of a noun is the grammatical case used to mark the direct object of a transitive verb. The same case is used in many languages for the objects of prepositions...
o.
If we set:
A = agent of a transitive verb; S = argument of an intransitive verb; O = object of a transitive verb,
then we can contrast normal nominative–accusative English with a hypothetical ergative English:
Accusative English:
- I (S) traveled; She (S) traveled.
- I (A) invited her (O) to go with me; She (A) invited me (O) to go with her.
(S form = A form)
Hypothetical ergative English:
- Me (S) traveled; Her (S) traveled.
- I (A) invited her (O) to go with me; She (A) invited me (O) to go with her.
(S form = O form)
A number of languages have both ergative and accusative morphology. A typical example is a language that has nominative–accusative marking on verbs and ergative–absolutive case marking on nouns.
Georgian
Georgian language
Georgian is the native language of the Georgians and the official language of Georgia, a country in the Caucasus.Georgian is the primary language of about 4 million people in Georgia itself, and of another 500,000 abroad...
also has an ergative alignment, but the agent is only marked with the ergative case in the past tense (also known as the "aorist screeve
Screeve
A screeve is a term of grammatical description in traditional Georgian grammars that roughly corresponds to TAM marking in the Western grammatical tradition. It derives from the Georgian word mts'k'rivi , which means "row". Formally, it refers to a set of six verb forms inflected for person and...
"). Compare:
- K'ac'i vašls č'ams. (კაცი ვაშლს ჭამს) "The man is eating an apple."
- K'ac'ma vašli č'ama. (კაცმა ვაშლი ჭამა) "The man ate an apple."
K'ac'- is the root of the word "man". In the first sentence (present continuous tense) the agent is in the nominative case (k'ac'i). In the second sentence, which shows ergative alignment, the root is marked with the ergative suffix -ma.
However, there are some intransitive verbs in Georgian that behave like transitive verbs, and therefore employ the ergative case in the past tense. Consider:
- K'ac'ma daacemina. (კაცმა დააცემინა) "The man sneezed."
Although the verb sneeze is clearly intransitive, it is conjugated like a transitive verb. In Georgian there are a few verbs like these, and there has not been a clear-cut explanation as to why these verbs have evolved this way. One explanation is that verbs such as "sneeze" used to have a direct object (the object being "nose" in the case of "sneeze") and over time lost these objects, yet kept their transitive behavior.
Syntactic ergativity
Ergativity may be manifested through syntax, such as saying “Arrived me” for “I arrived,” in addition to morphology. Syntactic ergativity is quite rare, and while all languages that exhibit it also feature morphological ergativity, few morphologically ergative languages have ergative syntax. As with morphology, syntactic ergativity can be placed on a continuum, whereby certain syntactic operations may pattern accusatively and others ergatively. The degree of syntactic ergativity is then dependent on the number of syntactic operations that treat the Subject like the Object. Syntactic ergativity is also referred to as inter-clausal ergativity, as it typically appears in the relation of two clauses.Syntactic ergativity may appear in:
- Word orderWord orderIn linguistics, word order typology refers to the study of the order of the syntactic constituents of a language, and how different languages can employ different orders. Correlations between orders found in different syntactic subdomains are also of interest...
(for example, the absolutive argument comes before the verb and the ergative argument comes after it). - Syntactic pivotSyntactic pivotThe syntactic pivot is the verb argument around which sentences "revolve", in a given language. This usually means the following:*If the verb has more than zero arguments, then one argument is the syntactic pivot....
s - Relative clauseRelative clauseA relative clause is a subordinate clause that modifies a noun phrase, most commonly a noun. For example, the phrase "the man who wasn't there" contains the noun man, which is modified by the relative clause who wasn't there...
s – determining which arguments are available for relativization - SubordinationSubordination (linguistics)In linguistics, subordination is a complex syntactic construction in which one or more clauses are dependent on the main clause, such as The dog ran home after it had played with the ball. The italicized text is the subordinate clause...
- Switch referenceSwitch referenceIn linguistics, switch-reference describes any clause-level morpheme that signals whether certain prominent arguments in 'adjacent' clauses co-refer...
Example
Example of syntactic ergativity in the "conjunction reduction" construction (coordinated clauses) in DyirbalDyirbal language
Dyirbal is an Australian Aboriginal language spoken in northeast Queensland by about 5 speakers of the Dyirbal tribe. It is a member of the small Dyirbalic branch of the Pama–Nyungan family...
in contrast with English conjunction reduction. (The subscript (i) indicates coreference.)
English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
(SVO word order):
- Father returned.
- Father saw mother.
- Mother saw father.
- Father(i) returned and father(i) saw mother.
- Father returned and ____(i) saw mother.
- Father(i) returned and mother saw father(i).
- *Father returned and mother saw ____(i). (ill-formed, because S and deleted O cannot be coreferentialCoreferenceIn linguistics, co-reference occurs when multiple expressions in a sentence or document refer to the same thing; or in linguistic jargon, they have the same "referent."...
.)
Dyirbal
Dyirbal language
Dyirbal is an Australian Aboriginal language spoken in northeast Queensland by about 5 speakers of the Dyirbal tribe. It is a member of the small Dyirbalic branch of the Pama–Nyungan family...
(OSV word order):
- Ŋuma banaganyu. (Father returned.)
- Yabu ŋumaŋgu buṛan. (lit. Mother father-ŋgu saw, i.e. Father saw mother.)
- Ŋuma yabuŋgu buṛan. (lit. Father mother-ŋgu saw, i.e. Mother saw father.)
- Ŋuma(i) banaganyu, yabu ŋumaŋgu(i) buṛan. (lit. Father(i) returned, mother father-ŋgu(i) saw, i.e. Father returned, father saw mother.)
- *Ŋuma(i) banaganyu, yabu ____(i) buṛan. (lit. *Father(i) returned, mother ____(i) saw; ill-formed, because S and deleted A cannot be coreferential.)
- Ŋuma(i) banaganyu, ŋuma(i) yabuŋgu buṛan. (lit. Father(i) returned, father(i) mother-ŋgu saw, i.e. Father returned, mother saw father.)
- Ŋuma(i) banaganyu, ____(i) yabuŋgu buṛan. (lit. Father(i) returned, ____(i) mother-ŋgu saw, i.e. Father returned, mother saw father.)
| Father returned. | |
| father | returned |
| S | VERBintrans |
| Father returned, and father saw mother. | |||||
| father | returned | and | father | saw | mother |
| S | VERBintrans | CONJ | A | VERBtrans | O |
| Father returned and saw mother. | |||||
| father | returned | and | ____ | saw | mother |
| S | VERBintrans | CONJ | A | VERBtrans | O |
| Ŋuma banaganyu. | |
| ŋuma-∅ | banaganyu |
| father-ABS | returned |
| S | VERBintrans |
| "Father returned." | |
| Yabu ŋumaŋgu buṛan. | ||
| yabu-∅ | ŋuma-ŋgu | buṛan |
| mother-ABS | father-ERG | saw |
| O | A | VERBtrans |
| "Father saw mother." | ||
| Ŋuma yabuŋgu buṛan. | ||
| ŋuma-∅ | yabu-ŋgu | buṛan |
| father-ABS | mother-ERG | saw |
| O | A | VERBtrans |
| "Mother saw father." | ||
| Ŋuma banaganyu, ŋuma yabuŋgu buṛan. | ||||
| ŋuma-∅ | banaganyu | ŋuma-∅ | yabu-ŋgu | buṛan |
| father-ABS | returned | father-ABS | mother-ERG | saw |
| S | VERBintrans | O | A | VERBtrans |
| "Father returned and mother saw father." | ||||
| Ŋuma banaganyu, yabuŋgu buṛan. | ||||
| ŋuma-∅ | banaganyu | ____ | yabu-ŋgu | buṛan |
| father-ABS | returned | (deleted) | mother-ERG | saw |
| S | VERBintrans | O | A | VERBtrans |
| "Father returned and was seen by mother." | ||||
Split ergativity
The term ergative–absolutive is considered unsatisfactory by some, since there are very few languages without any patterns that exhibit nominative–accusative alignment. Instead they posit that one should only speak of ergative–absolutive systems, which languages employ to different degrees.Many languages classified as ergative in fact show split ergativity, whereby syntactic and/or morphological ergative patterns are conditioned by the grammatical context, typically person or the tense/aspect of the verb. Basque is unusual in having an almost fully ergative system.
In Urdu and Hindi
Hindi
Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
, the ergative case is marked on agents in the preterite
Preterite
The preterite is the grammatical tense expressing actions that took place or were completed in the past...
and perfect
Perfect
Perfection is a philosophical concept.Perfect may also refer to:- Music :* Perfect interval, a type of interval used in music* Perfect * Perfect , a band from Poland* "Perfect" , 1988 single...
tenses for transitive and ditransitive verb
Ditransitive verb
In grammar, a ditransitive verb is a verb which takes a subject and two objects which refer to a recipient and a theme. According to certain linguistics considerations, these objects may be called direct and indirect, or primary and secondary...
s, while in other situations agents appear in the nominative case.
- laṛkā kitāb kharīdtā hai
- boy-NOMINATIVE-MASCULINE book-NOMINATIVE-FEMININE buy-IMPERFECT-MASCULINE be-PRESENT ¹
- "The boy buys a book."
- laṛke ne kitāb kharīdī
- boy-ERGATIVE-MASCULINE book-NOMINATIVE-FEMININE buy-PERFECT-FEMININE ¹
- "The boy bought a book."
-
- (¹) The grammatical analysis has been simplified to show the features relevant to the example.
In Dyirbal
Dyirbal language
Dyirbal is an Australian Aboriginal language spoken in northeast Queensland by about 5 speakers of the Dyirbal tribe. It is a member of the small Dyirbalic branch of the Pama–Nyungan family...
, pronouns are morphologically nominative–accusative when the agent is first or second person, but ergative when the agent is a third person.
Distribution of ergative languages
Prototypical ergative languages are, for the most part, restricted to specific regions of world: the CaucasusCaucasus
The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...
, parts of North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
and Mesoamerica
Mesoamerica
Mesoamerica is a region and culture area in the Americas, extending approximately from central Mexico to Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, within which a number of pre-Columbian societies flourished before the Spanish colonization of the Americas in the 15th and...
, the Tibetan Plateau
Tibetan Plateau
The Tibetan Plateau , also known as the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau is a vast, elevated plateau in Central Asia covering most of the Tibet Autonomous Region and Qinghai, in addition to smaller portions of western Sichuan, southwestern Gansu, and northern Yunnan in Western China and Ladakh in...
, and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
.
Some specific languages are the following:
- Kartvelian, (South CaucasianSouth Caucasian languagesThe Kartvelian languages are spoken primarily in Georgia, with a large group of ethnic Georgian speakers in Russia, the United States, the European Union, and northeastern parts of Turkey. There are approximately 5.2 million speakers of this language family worldwide.It is not known to be related...
) - BasqueBasque languageBasque is the ancestral language of the Basque people, who inhabit the Basque Country, a region spanning an area in northeastern Spain and southwestern France. It is spoken by 25.7% of Basques in all territories...
- Most Australian Aboriginal languagesAustralian Aboriginal languagesThe Australian Aboriginal languages comprise several language families and isolates native to the Australian Aborigines of Australia and a few nearby islands, but by convention excluding the languages of Tasmania and the Torres Strait Islanders...
, such as DyirbalDyirbal languageDyirbal is an Australian Aboriginal language spoken in northeast Queensland by about 5 speakers of the Dyirbal tribe. It is a member of the small Dyirbalic branch of the Pama–Nyungan family... - Eskimo–Aleut languages
- HurrianHurrian languageHurrian is a conventional name for the language of the Hurrians , a people who entered northern Mesopotamia around 2300 BC and had mostly vanished by 1000 BC. Hurrian was the language of the Mitanni kingdom in northern Mesopotamia, and was likely spoken at least initially in Hurrian settlements in...
- UrartianUrartian languageUrartian, Vannic, and Chaldean are conventional names for the language spoken by the inhabitants of the ancient kingdom of Urartu that was located in the region of Lake Van, with its capital near the site of the modern town of Van, in the Armenian Highland, modern-day Eastern Anatolia region of...
- Nakh–Daghestan languagesNortheast Caucasian languagesThe Northeast Caucasian languages constitute a language family spoken in the Russian republics of Dagestan, Chechnya, Ingushetia, northern Azerbaijan, and in northeastern Georgia, as well as in diaspora populations in Russia, Turkey, and the Middle East...
- MayanMayan languagesThe Mayan languages form a language family spoken in Mesoamerica and northern Central America. Mayan languages are spoken by at least 6 million indigenous Maya, primarily in Guatemala, Mexico, Belize and Honduras...
- Mixe–Zoque
- SumerianSumerian languageSumerian is the language of ancient Sumer, which was spoken in southern Mesopotamia since at least the 4th millennium BC. During the 3rd millennium BC, there developed a very intimate cultural symbiosis between the Sumerians and the Akkadians, which included widespread bilingualism...
- TibetanTibetan languageThe Tibetan languages are a cluster of mutually-unintelligible Tibeto-Burman languages spoken primarily by Tibetan peoples who live across a wide area of eastern Central Asia bordering the Indian subcontinent, including the Tibetan Plateau and the northern Indian subcontinent in Baltistan, Ladakh,...
- The Tsimshian and Chinook languages
- the NortheastNortheast Caucasian languagesThe Northeast Caucasian languages constitute a language family spoken in the Russian republics of Dagestan, Chechnya, Ingushetia, northern Azerbaijan, and in northeastern Georgia, as well as in diaspora populations in Russia, Turkey, and the Middle East...
and Northwest CaucasianNorthwest Caucasian languagesThe Northwest Caucasian languages, also called Abkhazo-Adyghean, or sometimes Pontic as opposed to Caspian for the Northeast Caucasian languages, are a group of languages spoken in the Caucasus region, chiefly in Russia , the disputed territory of Abkhazia, and Turkey, with smaller communities...
families - Chibchan languagesChibchan languagesThe Chibchan languages make up a language family indigenous to the Isthmo-Colombian area, which extends from eastern Honduras to northern Colombia and includes populations of these countries as well as Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama...
- Panoan languagesPanoan languagesPanoan is a family of languages spoken in Peru, western Brazil, and Bolivia. It is a branch of the larger Pano–Tacanan family.-Family division:Panoan consists of some two dozen languages:...
(PeruPeruPeru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
, BrazilBrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, BoliviaBoliviaBolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...
), e.g. Shipibo-ConiboShipibo-Conibo-Population:The name refers to two languages spoken by these ethnic groups. They are primarily a riverine people living in the Amazon basin, primarily along the Ucayali River. Contact with western sources – including the governments of Peru and Brazil – has been sporadic over the past three... - Several Southwestern Iranian languages, including DavaniDavani dialectThe Davani dialect is a southwestern iranian language or southwestern dialect of Fars, spoken in the village of Davan, 12 kilometers north of Kazerun city in Southern Iran...
Certain Australian Aboriginal languages
Australian Aboriginal languages
The Australian Aboriginal languages comprise several language families and isolates native to the Australian Aborigines of Australia and a few nearby islands, but by convention excluding the languages of Tasmania and the Torres Strait Islanders...
(e.g., Warlpiri
Warlpiri language
The Warlpiri language is spoken by about 3000 of the Warlpiri people in Australia's Northern Territory. It is one of the Ngarrkic languages of the large Southwest branch of the Pama–Nyungan family, and is one of the largest aboriginal languages in Australia in terms of number of speakers.-...
) possess an intransitive case
Intransitive case
The intransitive case is a grammatical case used in some languages to mark the argument of an intransitive verb, but not used with transitive verbs...
and an accusative case
Accusative case
The accusative case of a noun is the grammatical case used to mark the direct object of a transitive verb. The same case is used in many languages for the objects of prepositions...
along with an ergative case, and lack an absolutive case
Absolutive case
The absolutive case is the unmarked grammatical case of a core argument of a verb which is used as the citation form of a noun.-In ergative languages:...
; such languages are called ergative–accusative languages or tripartite language
Tripartite language
A tripartite language, also called an ergative–accusative language, is one that treats the subject of an intransitive verb, the subject of a transitive verb, and the object of a transitive verb each in different ways...
s.
Many other languages have more limited ergativity, such as Pashto and Hindi
Hindi
Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
(Indo-Iranian
Indo-Iranian languages
The Indo-Iranian language group constitutes the easternmost extant branch of the Indo-European family of languages. It consists of three language groups: the Indo-Aryan, Iranian and Nuristani...
), where ergative behavior occurs only in the preterite and perfect tenses, and Georgian
Georgian language
Georgian is the native language of the Georgians and the official language of Georgia, a country in the Caucasus.Georgian is the primary language of about 4 million people in Georgia itself, and of another 500,000 abroad...
, where ergativity only occurs in the aorist
Aorist
Aorist is a philological term originally from Indo-European studies, referring to verb forms of various languages that are not necessarily related or similar in meaning...
.
The Philippine languages
Philippine languages
The Philippine languages are a 1991 proposal by Robert Blust that all the languages of the Philippines and northern Sulawesi—except Sama–Bajaw and a few languages of Palawan—form a subfamily of Austronesian languages...
(e.g. Tagalog
Tagalog language
Tagalog is an Austronesian language spoken as a first language by a third of the population of the Philippines and as a second language by most of the rest. It is the first language of the Philippine region IV and of Metro Manila...
) are sometimes considered ergative (Schachter 1976, 1977; Kroeger 1993). However they would better be considered to have their own morphosyntactic alignment. See Austronesian alignment
Austronesian alignment
Austronesian alignment, commonly known as the Philippine- or Austronesian-type voice system, is a typologically unusual morphosyntactic alignment that combines features of ergative and accusative languages...
.
Several scholars have hypothesized that Proto-Indo-European was an Ergative language. However, this hypothesis has not gone uncritiqued.
Approximations of ergativity in English
American English has derivational morphology that parallels ergativity in that it operates on intransitive verbs and objects of transitive verbs. With an intransitive verb, adding the suffix -ee to the verb produces a label for the person performing the action:- "John has retired" → "John is a retiree"
- "John has escaped" → "John is an escapee"
However, with a transitive verb, adding -ee does not produce a label for the person doing the action. Instead, it gives us a label for the person to whom the action is done:
- "Mike employs Susie" → "Susie is an employee"
- "Mike has appointed Susie" → "Susie is an appointee"
Etymologically, the sense in which "-ee" denotes the object of a transitive verb is the original one,
arising from French past participles in "-é". This is still the prevalent sense in UK English:
the intransitive uses are all 19th-century American coinages and all except "escapee" are still marked as "chiefly U.S." by the Oxford English Dictionary.
English also has a number of so-called ergative verb
Ergative verb
In linguistics, an ergative verb is a verb that can be either transitive or intransitive, and whose subject when intransitive corresponds to its direct object when transitive.-In English:...
s, where the object of the verb when transitive is equivalent to the subject of the verb when intransitive.
See also
- Ergative verbErgative verbIn linguistics, an ergative verb is a verb that can be either transitive or intransitive, and whose subject when intransitive corresponds to its direct object when transitive.-In English:...
- Split ergativitySplit ergativitySplit ergativity is shown by languages that have a partly ergative behaviour, but employ another syntax or morphology — usually accusative — in some contexts...
- Morphosyntactic alignmentMorphosyntactic alignmentIn linguistics, morphosyntactic alignment is the system used to distinguish between the arguments of transitive verbs and those of intransitive verbs...
- Transitivity (grammatical category)Transitivity (grammatical category)In linguistics, transitivity is a property of verbs that relates to whether a verb can take direct objects and how many such objects a verb can take...
External links
- "A quick tutorial on ergativity, by way of the Squid-headed one", at Recycled Knowledge (blog), by John Cowan, 2005-05-05.
- "Ergativity in Sumerian", an article about ergativity and how it manifests itself in the ancient Sumerian language