In
linguistic typology
Linguistic typology (or language typology) is a field of linguistics that studies and classifies languages according to their structural features to allow their comparison. Its aim is to describe and explain the structural diversity and the co ...
, ergative–absolutive alignment is a type of
morphosyntactic alignment
In linguistics, morphosyntactic alignment is the grammatical relationship between arguments—specifically, between the two arguments (in English, subject and object) of transitive verbs like ''the dog chased the cat'', and the single argument of ...
in which the
subject of an
intransitive verb
In grammar, an intransitive verb is a verb, aside from an auxiliary verb, whose context does not entail a transitive object. That lack of an object distinguishes intransitive verbs from transitive verbs, which entail one or more objects. Add ...
behaves like the
object
Object may refer to:
General meanings
* Object (philosophy), a thing, being, or concept
** Object (abstract), an object which does not exist at any particular time or place
** Physical object, an identifiable collection of matter
* Goal, an a ...
of a
transitive verb
A transitive verb is a verb that entails one or more transitive objects, for example, 'enjoys' in ''Amadeus enjoys music''. This contrasts with intransitive verbs, which do not entail transitive objects, for example, 'arose' in ''Beatrice arose ...
, and differently from the subject of a transitive verb. Examples include
Basque
Basque may refer to:
* Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France
* Basque language, their language
Places
* Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France
* Basque Country (autonomous co ...
,
Georgian,
Mayan,
Tibetan,
Sumerian, and certain
Indo-European languages
The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the northern Indian subcontinent, most of Europe, and the Iranian plateau with additional native branches found in regions such as Sri Lanka, the Maldives, parts of Central Asia (e. ...
(such as
Pashto
Pashto ( , ; , ) is an eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family, natively spoken in northwestern Pakistan and southern and eastern Afghanistan. It has official status in Afghanistan and the Pakistani province of Khyb ...
and the
Kurdish languages
Kurdish (, , ) is a Northwestern Iranian language or group of languages spoken by Kurds in the region of Kurdistan, namely in southeast Turkey, northern Iraq, northwest Iran, and northern Syria. It is also spoken in northeast Iran, as well a ...
and many
Indo-Aryan languages
The Indo-Aryan languages, or sometimes Indic languages, are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. As of 2024, there are more than 1.5 billion speakers, primarily concentrated east ...
like
Hindustani). It has also been attributed to the
Semitic modern Aramaic (also called Neo-Aramaic) languages. Ergative languages are classified into two groups: those that are morphologically ergative but syntactically behave as
accusative
In grammar, the accusative case (abbreviated ) of a noun is the grammatical case used to receive the direct object of a transitive verb.
In the English language, the only words that occur in the accusative case are pronouns: "me", "him", "her", " ...
(for instance, Basque, Pashto and
Urdu
Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...
) and those that, on top of being ergative morphologically, also show ergativity in syntax. Languages that belong to the former group are more numerous than those to the latter.
The ergative-absolutive alignment is in contrast to
nominative–accusative alignment, which is observed in
English and most other Indo-European languages, where the single argument of an intransitive verb ("She" in the sentence "She walks") behaves grammatically like the agent (
subject) of a transitive verb ("She" in the sentence "She finds it") but different from the object of a transitive verb ("her" in the sentence "He likes her"). When ergative–absolutive alignment is coded by
grammatical case
A grammatical case is a category of nouns and noun modifiers (determiners, adjectives, participles, and Numeral (linguistics), numerals) that corresponds to one or more potential grammatical functions for a Nominal group (functional grammar), n ...
, the case used for the single argument of an intransitive verb and the object of a transitive verb is the
absolutive
In grammar, the absolutive case (abbreviated ) is the case of nouns in ergative–absolutive languages that would generally be the subjects of intransitive verbs or the objects of transitive verbs in the translational equivalents of nominative� ...
, and the case used for the agent of a transitive verb is the
ergative. In nominative-accusative languages, the case for the single argument of an intransitive verb and the agent of a transitive verb is the
nominative
In grammar, the nominative case ( abbreviated ), subjective case, straight case, or upright case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb, or (in Latin and formal variants of E ...
, while the case for the direct object of a transitive verb is the
accusative
In grammar, the accusative case (abbreviated ) of a noun is the grammatical case used to receive the direct object of a transitive verb.
In the English language, the only words that occur in the accusative case are pronouns: "me", "him", "her", " ...
.
Many languages have ergative–absolutive alignment only in some parts of their grammar (e.g., in the case marking of nouns), but nominative-accusative alignment in other parts (e.g., in the case marking of pronouns, or in
person agreement). This is known as
split ergativity
In linguistic typology, split ergativity is a feature of certain languages where some constructions use ergative syntax and morphology, but other constructions show another pattern, usually nominative–accusative. The conditions in which ergat ...
.
Ergative vs. accusative languages
An ergative language maintains a
syntactic
In linguistics, syntax ( ) is the study of how words and morphemes combine to form larger units such as phrases and sentences. Central concerns of syntax include word order, grammatical relations, hierarchical sentence structure (constituency ...
or
morphological equivalence (such as the same
word order
In linguistics, word order (also known as linear order) is the order of the syntactic constituents of a language. Word order typology studies it from a cross-linguistic perspective, and examines how languages employ different orders. Correlatio ...
or
grammatical case
A grammatical case is a category of nouns and noun modifiers (determiners, adjectives, participles, and Numeral (linguistics), numerals) that corresponds to one or more potential grammatical functions for a Nominal group (functional grammar), n ...
) 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. Such languages are said to operate with S/O
syntactic pivot
{{Linguistic_typology_topics
The 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.
*I ...
.
This contrasts with
nominative–accusative languages such as
English, where the single
argument
An argument is a series of sentences, statements, or propositions some of which are called premises and one is the conclusion. The purpose of an argument is to give reasons for one's conclusion via justification, explanation, and/or persu ...
of an intransitive verb and the
agent
Agent may refer to:
Espionage, investigation, and law
*, spies or intelligence officers
* Law of agency, laws involving a person authorized to act on behalf of another
** Agent of record, a person with a contractual agreement with an insuran ...
of a transitive verb (both called the
subject) are treated alike and kept distinct from the object of a transitive verb. Such languages are said to operate with S/A (syntactic) pivot.
(reference for figure:
[Friend, Some Syntactic and Morphological Features of Suleimaniye Kurdish, UCLA, 1985])
These different arguments are usually symbolized as follows:
* A = agent of transitive verb
* O = object of transitive verb (also symbolized as P for "patient")
* S = core argument (i.e.
subject) of intransitive verb
The relationship between ergative and accusative systems can be schematically represented as the following:
''See
morphosyntactic alignment
In linguistics, morphosyntactic alignment is the grammatical relationship between arguments—specifically, between the two arguments (in English, subject and object) of transitive verbs like ''the dog chased the cat'', and the single argument of ...
for a more technical explanation and a comparison with
nominative–accusative languages.''
The word ''subject'', as it is typically defined in grammars of nominative–accusative languages, has a different application when referring to ergative–absolutive languages, or when discussing
morphosyntactic alignment
In linguistics, morphosyntactic alignment is the grammatical relationship between arguments—specifically, between the two arguments (in English, subject and object) of transitive verbs like ''the dog chased the cat'', and the single argument of ...
in general.
Ergative languages tend to be either verb-final or verb-initial; there are few, if any, ergative
SVO languages.
Realization of ergativity
Ergativity can be found in both
morphological and
syntactic
In linguistics, syntax ( ) is the study of how words and morphemes combine to form larger units such as phrases and sentences. Central concerns of syntax include word order, grammatical relations, hierarchical sentence structure (constituency ...
behavior.
Morphological ergativity
If the language has morphological
case
Case or CASE may refer to:
Instances
* Instantiation (disambiguation), a realization of a concept, theme, or design
* Special case, an instance that differs in a certain way from others of the type
Containers
* Case (goods), a package of relate ...
, then the
verb argument
In linguistics, an argument is an expression that helps complete the meaning of a predicate, the latter referring in this context to a main verb and its auxiliaries. In this regard, the '' complement'' is a closely related concept. Most predicate ...
s are marked thus:
* The agent of a transitive verb (A) is marked as
ergative case
In grammar, the ergative case (abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that identifies a nominal phrase as the agent of a transitive verb in ergative–absolutive languages.
Characteristics
In such languages, the ergative case is typically m ...
, or as a similar case such as
oblique.
* The core argument of an intransitive verb (S) and the object of a transitive verb (O) are both marked with
absolutive case
In grammar, the absolutive case ( abbreviated ) is the case of nouns in ergative–absolutive languages that would generally be the subjects of intransitive verbs or the objects of transitive verbs in the translational equivalents of nominativ ...
.
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
The Mayan languages In linguistics, it is conventional to use ''Mayan'' when referring to the languages, or an aspect of a language. In other academic fields, ''Maya'' is the preferred usage, serving as both a singular and plural noun, and a ...
have no morphological ergative case, but they have a verbal agreement structure that is ergative. In languages with ergative–absolutive agreement systems, the absolutive form is usually the most
unmarked
In linguistics and social sciences, markedness is the state of standing out as nontypical or divergent as opposed to regular or common. In a marked–unmarked relation, one term of an opposition is the broader, dominant one. The dominant defau ...
form of a word (exceptions include
Nias
Nias (, Nias: ''Tanö Niha'') is an island located off the western coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. Nias is also the name of the archipelago () of which the island is the centre, but also includes the Batu Islands to the southeast and the small ...
and
Tlapanec).
The following examples from
Basque
Basque may refer to:
* Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France
* Basque language, their language
Places
* Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France
* Basque Country (autonomous co ...
demonstrate an ergative–absolutive case marking system:
Here ''-Ø'' represents a
zero morpheme, as the absolutive case is unmarked in Basque with proper nouns (i.e., Martin, Diego, Berlin...). The forms for the ergative are ''-k'' after a vowel, and ''-ek'' after a consonant. It is a further rule in Basque grammar that in most cases a noun phrase must be closed by a
determiner
Determiner, also called determinative ( abbreviated ), is a term used in some models of grammatical description to describe a word or affix belonging to a class of noun modifiers. A determiner combines with a noun to express its reference. Examp ...
. The default determiner (commonly called the
article, which is suffixed to
common nouns and usually translatable by "the" in English) is ''-a'' in the singular and ''-ak'' in the plural, the plural being marked only on the determiner and never the noun. For common nouns, this default determiner is fused with the ergative case marker. Thus one obtains the following forms for ''gizon'' ("man"): ''gizon-a'' (man-the.sing.abs), ''gizon-ak'' (man-the.pl.abs), ''gizon-ak'' (man-the.sing.erg), ''gizon-ek'' (man-the.pl.erg). When fused with the article, the absolutive plural is
homophonous with the ergative singular. See
Basque grammar
This article provides a sketch of Basque grammar. Basque is the language of the Basque people of the Basque Country or Euskal Herria, which borders the Bay of Biscay in Western Europe.
Noun phrases
The Basque noun phrase is structured quite di ...
for details.
Another example from
Circassian language
Circassian (; ), also known as Cherkess ( ), is a subdivision of the Northwest Caucasian language family, spoken by the Circassian people. There are two main variants of the Circassian language, defined by their literary standards, Adyghe (; a ...
that demonstrates an ergative–absolutive case marking system while using the same verb "break" in both intransitive and transitive forms:
Here, "table" has the absolutive case mark -р /-r/ while "man" has the ergative case mark -м /-m/. We also have the verb "break" in intransitive form "мэкъутэ" and transitive form "екъутэ". In the example above, we specifically used SOV order, but Circassian allows any order.
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
In grammar, the nominative case ( abbreviated ), subjective case, straight case, or upright case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb, or (in Latin and formal variants ...
particle ''ga'', while the object of the transitive sentence is marked with the
accusative case
In grammar, the accusative case ( abbreviated ) of a noun is the grammatical case used to receive the direct object of a transitive verb.
In the English language, the only words that occur in the accusative case are pronouns: "me", "him", "he ...
''o''.
If one sets: 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:
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 has an ergative alignment, but the agent is only marked with the ergative case in the
perfective
The perfective aspect (abbreviated ), sometimes called the aoristic aspect, is a grammatical aspect that describes an action viewed as a simple whole, i.e., a unit without interior composition. The perfective aspect is distinguished from the imp ...
aspect (also known as the "aorist
screeve
Screeve is a term of grammatical description in traditional Georgian grammars that roughly corresponds to tense–aspect–mood marking in the Western grammatical tradition. It derives from the Georgian word . Formally, it refers to a set of ...
"). Compare:
: () "The man is eating an apple."
: () "The man ate an apple."
is the root of the word "man". In the first sentence (present continuous tense) the agent is in the nominative case ( ). In the second sentence, which shows ergative alignment, the root is marked with the ergative suffix .
However, there are some intransitive verbs in Georgian that behave like transitive verbs, and therefore employ the ergative case in the past tense. Consider:
: () "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.
Differing noun-pronoun alignment
In rare cases, such as the
Australian Aboriginal language
The Indigenous languages of Australia number in the hundreds, the precise number being quite uncertain, although there is a range of estimates from a minimum of around 250 (using the technical definition of 'language' as non-mutually intellig ...
Nhanda, different nominal elements may follow a different case-alignment template. In Nhanda, common nouns have ergative-absolutive alignment—like in most Australian languages—but most pronouns instead follow a
nominative-accusative template. In Nhanda, the
absolutive case
In grammar, the absolutive case ( abbreviated ) is the case of nouns in ergative–absolutive languages that would generally be the subjects of intransitive verbs or the objects of transitive verbs in the translational equivalents of nominativ ...
has a null suffix while
ergative case
In grammar, the ergative case (abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that identifies a nominal phrase as the agent of a transitive verb in ergative–absolutive languages.
Characteristics
In such languages, the ergative case is typically m ...
is marked with some
allomorph
In linguistics, an allomorph is a variant phonetic form of a morpheme, or in other words, a unit of meaning that varies in sound and spelling without changing the meaning. The term ''allomorph'' describes the realization of phonological variatio ...
of the suffixes ''-nggu'' or ''-lu.'' See the common noun paradigm at play below:
Intransitive Subject (ABS)
Transitive Subject-Object (ERG-ABS)
Compare the above examples with the case marking of pronouns in Nhanda below, wherein all subjects (regardless of verb transitivity) are marked (in this case with a null suffix) the same for case while transitive objects take the
accusative
In grammar, the accusative case (abbreviated ) of a noun is the grammatical case used to receive the direct object of a transitive verb.
In the English language, the only words that occur in the accusative case are pronouns: "me", "him", "her", " ...
suffix ''-nha''.
Intransitive Pronoun Subject (NOM)
Transitive Pronoun Subject-Object (NOM-ACC)
Syntactic ergativity
Ergativity may be manifested through syntax, such as saying "Arrived I" 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 order
In linguistics, word order (also known as linear order) is the order of the syntactic constituents of a language. Word order typology studies it from a cross-linguistic perspective, and examines how languages employ different orders. Correlatio ...
(for example, the absolutive argument comes before the verb and the ergative argument comes after it)
*
Syntactic pivot
{{Linguistic_typology_topics
The 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.
*I ...
s
*
Relative clause
A relative clause is a clause that modifies a noun or noun phrase and uses some grammatical device to indicate that one of the arguments in the relative clause refers to the noun or noun phrase. For example, in the sentence ''I met a man who wasn ...
s – determining which arguments are available for relativization
*
Subordination
*
Switch reference
In linguistics, switch-reference (SR) describes any clause-level morpheme that signals whether certain prominent arguments in 'adjacent' clauses are coreferential. In most cases, it marks whether the subject of the verb in one clause is corefer ...
Example
Example of syntactic ergativity in the "
conjunction reduction" construction (
coordinated clauses) in
Dyirbal in contrast with English conjunction reduction. (The subscript (i) indicates coreference.)
English (
SVO word order):
# Father returned.
# Father saw mother.
# Mother saw father.
# Father
(i) returned and father
(i) saw mother.
# Father
(i) returned and ____
(i) saw mother.
# Father
(i) returned and mother saw father
(i).
#
* Father
(i) returned and mother saw ____
(i). (ill-formed, because S and deleted O cannot be
coreferential.)
Dyirbal (
OSV word order):
# Ŋuma banagan
yu. (''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) banagan
yu, yabu ŋumaŋgu
(i) buṛan. (lit. ''Father''
(i)'' returned, mother father-''ŋgu
(i)'' saw'', i.e. ''Father returned, father saw mother.'')
#
* Ŋuma
(i) banagan
yu, yabu ____
(i) buṛan. (lit. *''Father''
(i)'' returned, mother ____''
(i)'' saw''; ill-formed, because S and deleted A cannot be coreferential.)
# Ŋuma
(i) banagan
yu, ŋuma
(i) yabuŋgu buṛan. (lit. ''Father''
(i)'' returned, father''
(i)'' mother-''ŋgu'' saw'', i.e. ''Father returned, mother saw father.'')
# Ŋuma
(i) banagan
yu, ____
(i) yabuŋgu buṛan. (lit. ''Father''
(i)'' returned, ____''
(i)'' mother-''ŋgu'' saw'', i.e. ''Father returned, mother saw father.'')
Crucially, the fifth sentence has an S/A pivot and thus is ill-formed in Dyirbal (syntactically ergative); on the other hand, the seventh sentence has an S/O pivot and thus is ill-formed in English (syntactically accusative).
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
Basque may refer to:
* Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France
* Basque language, their language
Places
* Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France
* Basque Country (autonomous co ...
is unusual in having an almost fully ergative system in case-marking and verbal
agreement
Agreement may refer to:
Agreements between people and organizations
* Gentlemen's agreement, not enforceable by law
* Trade agreement, between countries
* Consensus (disambiguation), a decision-making process
* Contract, enforceable in a court of ...
, though it shows thoroughly nominative–accusative
syntactic alignment.
In
Hindustani (
Hindi
Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...
and
Urdu
Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...
), the
ergative case
In grammar, the ergative case (abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that identifies a nominal phrase as the agent of a transitive verb in ergative–absolutive languages.
Characteristics
In such languages, the ergative case is typically m ...
is marked on
agents in the
perfective aspect
The perfective aspect ( abbreviated ), sometimes called the aoristic aspect, is a grammatical aspect that describes an action viewed as a simple whole, i.e., a unit without interior composition. The perfective aspect is distinguished from the ...
for
transitive and
ditransitive verbs (also for
intransitive verb
In grammar, an intransitive verb is a verb, aside from an auxiliary verb, whose context does not entail a transitive object. That lack of an object distinguishes intransitive verbs from transitive verbs, which entail one or more objects. Add ...
s when they are
volitional), while in other situations agents appear in the
nominative case
In grammar, the nominative case ( abbreviated ), subjective case, straight case, or upright case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb, or (in Latin and formal variants ...
.
In the Northern Kurdish language
Kurmanji, the ergative case is marked on agents and verbs of transitive verbs in past tenses, for the events actually occurred in the past. Present, future and "future in the past" tenses show no ergative mark neither for agents nor the verbs. For example:
:(1) Ez diçim. (I go)
:(2) Ez wî dibînim. (I see him.)
:(3) Ew diçe. (He goes)
:(4) Ew min dibîne. (He sees me.)
but:
:(5) Ez çûm. (I went)
:(6) Min ew dît. (I saw him.)
:(7) Ew çû. (He went.)
:(8) Wî ez dîtim. (He saw me.)
In sentences (1) to (4), there is no ergativity (transitive and intransitive verbs alike). In sentences (6) and (8), the ergative case is marked on agents and verbs.
In
Dyirbal, pronouns are morphologically nominative–accusative when the agent is first or second person, but ergative when the agent is a third person.
Optional ergativity
Many languages with ergative marking display what is known as ''optional ergativity'', where the ergative marking is not always expressed in all situations. McGregor (2010) gives a range of contexts when we often see optional ergativity, and argues that the choice is often not truly ''optional'' but is affected by
semantics
Semantics is the study of linguistic Meaning (philosophy), meaning. It examines what meaning is, how words get their meaning, and how the meaning of a complex expression depends on its parts. Part of this process involves the distinction betwee ...
and
pragmatics
In linguistics and the philosophy of language, pragmatics is the study of how Context (linguistics), context contributes to meaning. The field of study evaluates how human language is utilized in social interactions, as well as the relationship ...
. Unlike
split ergativity
In linguistic typology, split ergativity is a feature of certain languages where some constructions use ergative syntax and morphology, but other constructions show another pattern, usually nominative–accusative. The conditions in which ergat ...
, which occurs regularly but in limited locations, optional ergativity can occur in a range of environments, but may not be used in a way that appears regular or consistent.
Optional ergativity may be motivated by:
* The
animacy
Animacy (antonym: inanimacy) is a grammatical and semantic feature, existing in some languages, expressing how sentient or alive the referent of a noun is. Widely expressed, animacy is one of the most elementary principles in languages around ...
of the subject, with more ''animate'' subjects more likely to be marked ergative
* The
semantics
Semantics is the study of linguistic Meaning (philosophy), meaning. It examines what meaning is, how words get their meaning, and how the meaning of a complex expression depends on its parts. Part of this process involves the distinction betwee ...
of the verb, with more ''active'' or ''transitive'' verbs more likely to be marked ergative
* The
grammatical structure or
ense-aspect-mood
Languages from Australia, New Guinea and Tibet have been shown to have optional ergativity.
Distribution of ergative languages
Prototypical ergative languages are, for the most part, restricted to specific regions of the world:
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary of ...
(
Kurdish, and some extinct languages),
the Caucasus,
the Americas
The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.'' Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sin ...
, the
Tibetan Plateau
The Tibetan Plateau, also known as the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau or Qingzang Plateau, is a vast elevated plateau located at the intersection of Central Asia, Central, South Asia, South, and East Asia. Geographically, it is located to the north of H ...
, and
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
and parts of
New Guinea
New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...
.
Specific languages and language families include:
Americas
*
Chibchan languages
The Chibchan languages (also known as Chibchano) 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 R ...
*
Chinookan languages (extinct)
*
Coosan languages
Coosan () is a townland and suburb north of Athlone, County Westmeath in Ireland. Coosan, which is situated on the shores of Lough Ree, is surrounded by water on three sides and bordered by Athlone on the fourth.
Coosan attracts tourists over t ...
(extinct)
*
Eskimo–Aleut languages
The Eskaleut ( ), Eskimo–Aleut or Inuit–Yupik–Unangan languages are a language family native to the northern portions of the North American continent, and a small part of northeastern Asia. Languages in the family are indigenous to parts of ...
*
Guaicuruan languages
*
Macro-Jê languages
*
Mayan
*
Mixe–Zoque
*
Panoan languages
Panoan (also Pánoan, Panoano, Panoana, Páno) is a family of languages spoken in western Brazil, eastern Peru, and northern Bolivia. It is possibly a branch of a larger Pano–Tacanan family.
Genetic relations
The Panoan family is generally bel ...
*
Salish languages
*
Tsimshian
The Tsimshian (; ) are an Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. Their communities are mostly in coastal British Columbia in Terrace, British Columbia, Terrace and ...
Africa
*
Tedaga, a
Nilo-Saharan
The Nilo-Saharan languages are a proposed family of around 210 African languages spoken by somewhere around 70 million speakers, mainly in the upper parts of the Chari and Nile rivers, including historic Nubia, north of where the two tributari ...
language of Southern Libya and Northern Chad.
*
Majang language, a
Nilo-Saharan
The Nilo-Saharan languages are a proposed family of around 210 African languages spoken by somewhere around 70 million speakers, mainly in the upper parts of the Chari and Nile rivers, including historic Nubia, north of where the two tributari ...
language of Ethiopia.
*
Päri, although recent studies imply a nominative-accusative system.
Asia
*
Assamese
*
Burushaski
Burushaski (; , ) is a language isolate, spoken by the Burusho people, who predominantly reside in northern Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan. There are also a few hundred speakers of this language in northern Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), Jammu ...
*
Chukchi (endangered)
*
Hawu
*
Tibetan
*
Sylheti
*
Yaghnobi
*
Pashto
Pashto ( , ; , ) is an eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family, natively spoken in northwestern Pakistan and southern and eastern Afghanistan. It has official status in Afghanistan and the Pakistani province of Khyb ...
Australian
* Most
Australian Aboriginal languages
The Indigenous languages of Australia number in the hundreds, the precise number being quite uncertain, although there is a range of estimates from a minimum of around 250 (using the technical definition of 'language' as non-mutually intellig ...
, such as
Dyirbal
Certain
Australian Aboriginal languages
The Indigenous languages of Australia number in the hundreds, the precise number being quite uncertain, although there is a range of estimates from a minimum of around 250 (using the technical definition of 'language' as non-mutually intellig ...
(e.g.,
Wangkumara) possess an
intransitive case and an
accusative case
In grammar, the accusative case ( abbreviated ) of a noun is the grammatical case used to receive the direct object of a transitive verb.
In the English language, the only words that occur in the accusative case are pronouns: "me", "him", "he ...
along with an
ergative case
In grammar, the ergative case (abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that identifies a nominal phrase as the agent of a transitive verb in ergative–absolutive languages.
Characteristics
In such languages, the ergative case is typically m ...
, and lack an
absolutive case
In grammar, the absolutive case ( abbreviated ) is the case of nouns in ergative–absolutive languages that would generally be the subjects of intransitive verbs or the objects of transitive verbs in the translational equivalents of nominativ ...
; such languages are called
tripartite languages or ergative–accusative languages.
Papua
*
Eastern Trans-Fly languages
* various
Trans–New Guinea languages
Trans–New Guinea (TNG) is an extensive Language family, family of Papuan languages spoken on the island of New Guinea and neighboring islands, a region corresponding to the country Papua New Guinea as well as Western New Guinea, parts of Indone ...
Europe
*
Basque
Basque may refer to:
* Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France
* Basque language, their language
Places
* Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France
* Basque Country (autonomous co ...
Caucasus and Near East
*
Hurrian
The Hurrians (; ; also called Hari, Khurrites, Hourri, Churri, Hurri) were a people who inhabited the Ancient Near East during the Bronze Age. They spoke the Hurro-Urartian language, Hurrian language, and lived throughout northern Syria (region) ...
(extinct)
*
Urartian (extinct)
*
Sumerian (extinct)
*
South Caucasian:
Georgian,
Laz
*
Northeast Caucasian:
Chechen,
Lezgian,
Tsez,
Archi (
endangered
An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...
)
*
Northwest Caucasian:
Abkhaz,
Circassian,
Ubykh (extinct)
*
Kurdish:
Gorani,
Zazaki,
Sorani
Central Kurdish, also known as Sorani Kurdish, is a Kurdish dialect or a language spoken in Iraq, mainly in Iraqi Kurdistan, as well as the provinces of Kurdistan, Kermanshah, and West Azerbaijan in western Iran. Central Kurdish is one of the ...
and
Kurmanji
Several scholars have hypothesized that
Proto-Indo-European
Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. No direct record of Proto-Indo-European exists; its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-Euro ...
was an ergative language, although this hypothesis is controversial.
Languages with limited ergativity
*In
Hindi
Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...
(
Indo-Aryan), ergative alignment occurs only when the verb is in the
perfective aspect
The perfective aspect ( abbreviated ), sometimes called the aoristic aspect, is a grammatical aspect that describes an action viewed as a simple whole, i.e., a unit without interior composition. The perfective aspect is distinguished from the ...
for
transitive verb
A transitive verb is a verb that entails one or more transitive objects, for example, 'enjoys' in ''Amadeus enjoys music''. This contrasts with intransitive verbs, which do not entail transitive objects, for example, 'arose' in ''Beatrice arose ...
s (also for intransitive verbs but only when they are
volitional).
*In
Pashto
Pashto ( , ; , ) is an eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family, natively spoken in northwestern Pakistan and southern and eastern Afghanistan. It has official status in Afghanistan and the Pakistani province of Khyb ...
, ergative alignment occurs only in the past tense.
*In
Georgian, ergativity only occurs in the
perfective
The perfective aspect (abbreviated ), sometimes called the aoristic aspect, is a grammatical aspect that describes an action viewed as a simple whole, i.e., a unit without interior composition. The perfective aspect is distinguished from the imp ...
.
*The
Philippine languages
The Philippine languages or Philippinic are a proposed group by R. David Paul Zorc (1986) and Robert Blust (1991; 2005; 2019) that include all the languages of the Philippines and northern Sulawesi, Indonesia—except Sama–Bajaw (language ...
(e.g.,
Tagalog) are sometimes considered ergative (Schachter 1976, 1977; Kroeger 1993); however, they have also been considered to have their own unique morphosyntactic alignment. See
symmetrical voice.
*In the
Neo-Aramaic languages, which are generally classified into 4 groups, only
Northeastern (NENA) and
Ṭuroyo groups exhibit
split ergativity
In linguistic typology, split ergativity is a feature of certain languages where some constructions use ergative syntax and morphology, but other constructions show another pattern, usually nominative–accusative. The conditions in which ergat ...
, which is formed in the
perfective
The perfective aspect (abbreviated ), sometimes called the aoristic aspect, is a grammatical aspect that describes an action viewed as a simple whole, i.e., a unit without interior composition. The perfective aspect is distinguished from the imp ...
aspect only, whereas the
imperfective
The imperfective (abbreviated , , or more ambiguously ) is a grammatical aspect used to describe ongoing, habitual, repeated, or similar semantic roles, whether that situation occurs in the past, present, or future. Although many languages have a ...
aspect is nominative-accusative. Some dialects would only mark
unaccusative subjects as ergative. Assyrian Neo-Aramaic, in particular, has an ergative type of construction of the
perfective past verbal base, where foregone actions are verbalized by a passive construction with the
patient
A patient is any recipient of health care services that are performed by Health professional, healthcare professionals. The patient is most often Disease, ill or Major trauma, injured and in need of therapy, treatment by a physician, nurse, op ...
being conferred as the
grammatical subject rather than by an active construction, e.g. ''baxta qtile'' ("the woman was killed by him"). The ergative type of inflection with an agentive phrase has been extended by analogy to intransitive verbs, e.g. ''qim-le'' ("he has risen").
Aramaic
Aramaic (; ) is a Northwest Semitic language that originated in the ancient region of Syria and quickly spread to Mesopotamia, the southern Levant, Sinai, southeastern Anatolia, and Eastern Arabia, where it has been continually written a ...
has historically been a nominative-accusative language.
Sign languages
Sign languages (for example,
Nepali Sign Language) should also generally be considered ergative in the patterning of
actant incorporation in verbs. In
sign language
Sign languages (also known as signed languages) are languages that use the visual-manual modality to convey meaning, instead of spoken words. Sign languages are expressed through manual articulation in combination with #Non-manual elements, no ...
s that have been studied,
classifier handshape
Classifier may refer to:
*Classifier (linguistics), or ''measure word'', especially in East Asian languages
**Classifier handshape, in sign languages
*Classifier (UML), in software engineering
*Classification rule, in statistical classification, e. ...
s are incorporated into verbs, indicating the
subject of
intransitive verb
In grammar, an intransitive verb is a verb, aside from an auxiliary verb, whose context does not entail a transitive object. That lack of an object distinguishes intransitive verbs from transitive verbs, which entail one or more objects. Add ...
s when incorporated, and the
object
Object may refer to:
General meanings
* Object (philosophy), a thing, being, or concept
** Object (abstract), an object which does not exist at any particular time or place
** Physical object, an identifiable collection of matter
* Goal, an a ...
of
transitive verb
A transitive verb is a verb that entails one or more transitive objects, for example, 'enjoys' in ''Amadeus enjoys music''. This contrasts with intransitive verbs, which do not entail transitive objects, for example, 'arose' in ''Beatrice arose ...
s. (If we follow the "
semantic phonology" model proposed by
William Stokoe (1991)
[William Stokoe (1991) Semantic Phonology. Sign Language Studies, 71 ,107–114.] this ergative-absolutive patterning also works at the level of the lexicon: thus in
Nepali Sign Language the sign for TEA has the motion for the verb DRINK with a
manual alphabet
Fingerspelling (or dactylology) is the representation of the letters of a writing system, and sometimes numeral systems, using only the hands. These manual alphabets (also known as finger alphabets or hand alphabets) have often been used in deaf ...
handshape च /ca/ (standing for the first letter of the
Nepali word TEA चिया /chiya:/) being incorporated as the
object
Object may refer to:
General meanings
* Object (philosophy), a thing, being, or concept
** Object (abstract), an object which does not exist at any particular time or place
** Physical object, an identifiable collection of matter
* Goal, an a ...
.)
Approximations of ergativity in English
English has derivational morphology that parallels ergativity in that it operates on intransitive verbs and objects of transitive verbs. With certain intransitive verbs, 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:
:"Susie employs Mike" → "Mike 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 participle
In linguistics, a participle (; abbr. ) is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived from a verb and used as an adject ...
s in "-é". This is still the prevalent sense in
British English
British English is the set of Variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United Kingdom, especially Great Britain. More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in England, or, more broadly, to ...
: 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
The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the principal historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP), a University of Oxford publishing house. The dictionary, which published its first editio ...
''.
English also has a number of so-called
ergative verb
In general linguistics, a labile verb (or ergative / diffused / ambivalent verb) is a verb that undergoes causative alternation; that is, it can be used both transitively and intransitively, with the requirement that the direct object of its t ...
s, where the object of the verb when transitive is equivalent to the subject of the verb when intransitive.
When English nominalizes a clause, the underlying subject of an intransitive verb and the underlying object of a transitive verb are both marked with the possessive case or with the preposition "of" (the choice depends on the type and length of the noun: pronouns and short nouns are typically marked with the possessive, while long and complex NPs are marked with "of"). The underlying subject of a transitive is marked differently (typically with "by" as in a passive construction):
:"(a dentist) extracts a tooth" → "the extraction of a tooth (by a dentist)"
:"(I/The editor) revised the essay" → "(my/the editor's) revision of the essay"
:"(I was surprised that) the water boiled" → "(I was surprised at) the boiling of the water"
:"I departed on time (so I could catch the plane)" → "My timely departure (allowed me to catch the plane)"
See also
*
Absolutive case
In grammar, the absolutive case ( abbreviated ) is the case of nouns in ergative–absolutive languages that would generally be the subjects of intransitive verbs or the objects of transitive verbs in the translational equivalents of nominativ ...
*
Active-stative language
*
Ergative case
In grammar, the ergative case (abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that identifies a nominal phrase as the agent of a transitive verb in ergative–absolutive languages.
Characteristics
In such languages, the ergative case is typically m ...
*
Ergative verb
In general linguistics, a labile verb (or ergative / diffused / ambivalent verb) is a verb that undergoes causative alternation; that is, it can be used both transitively and intransitively, with the requirement that the direct object of its t ...
*
Morphosyntactic alignment
In linguistics, morphosyntactic alignment is the grammatical relationship between arguments—specifically, between the two arguments (in English, subject and object) of transitive verbs like ''the dog chased the cat'', and the single argument of ...
*
Split ergativity
In linguistic typology, split ergativity is a feature of certain languages where some constructions use ergative syntax and morphology, but other constructions show another pattern, usually nominative–accusative. The conditions in which ergat ...
*
Symmetrical voice (aka Austronesian alignment)
*
Transitivity (grammar)
Transitivity is a linguistics property that relates to whether a verb, participle, or gerund denotes a Object (grammar), transitive object. It is closely related to valency (linguistics), valency, which considers other argument (linguistics), ...
*
Unaccusative verb
In linguistics, an unaccusative verb is an intransitive verb whose grammatical subject is not a semantics, semantic agent (grammar), agent. In other words, the subject does not actively initiate, or is not actively responsible for, the action expre ...
*
Unergative verb
An unergative verb is an intransitive verb that is characterized semantically by having a subject argument which is an ''agent'' that actively initiates the action expressed by the verb.
For example, in English, ''talk'' and ''resign'' in the ...
Notes
References
*
Bibliography
*Aldridge, Edith. (2008). Generative Approaches to Ergativity. ''Language and Linguistics Compass, 2'', 966–995.
*Aldridge, Edith. (2008). Minimalist analysis of ergativity. ''Sophia Linguistica, 55'', 123–142.
*Aldridge, Edith. (2016). Ergativity from subjunctive in Austronesian languages. ''Language and Linguistics, 17''(1), 27–62.
* Anderson, Stephen. (1976). On the notion of subject in ergative languages. In C. Li. (Ed.), ''Subject and topic'' (pp. 1–24). New York: Academic Press. .
* Anderson, Stephen R. (1985). Inflectional morphology. In T. Shopen (Ed.), ''Language typology and syntactic description: Grammatical categories and the lexicon'' (Vol. 3, pp. 150–201). Cambridge: University of Cambridge Press. .
* Comrie, Bernard. (1978)
ErgativityIn W. P. Lehmann (Ed.), ''Syntactic typology: Studies in the phenomenology of language'' (pp. 329–394). Austin: University of Texas Press. .
* Coon, Jessica, Diane Massam and Lisa deMena Travis. (Eds.). (2017). ''The Oxford handbook of ergativity''. Oxford University Press.
* Comrie, Bernard (1989
981. ''Language Universals and Linguistic Typology'', 2nd ed. University of Chicago Press.
* Dixon, R. M. W. (1979). Ergativity. ''Language'', ''55'' (1), 59–138. (Revised as Dixon 1994).
* Dixon, R. M. W. (Ed.) (1987). ''Studies in ergativity''. Amsterdam: North-Holland. .
* Dixon, R. M. W. (1994). ''Ergativity''. Cambridge University Press. .
* Foley, William; & Van Valin, Robert. (1984). ''Functional syntax and universal grammar''. Cambridge University Press. .
* Iliev, Ivan G. (2007
On the Nature of Grammatical Case ... (Case and Vocativeness)* Kroeger, Paul. (1993). ''Phrase structure and grammatical relations in Tagalog''. Stanford: CSLI. .
* Legate, Julie Anne. (2008). Morphological and Abstract Case. ''Linguistic Inquiry'' 39.1: 55–101.
* Mallinson, Graham; & Blake, Barry J. (1981). Agent and patient marking. ''Language typology: Cross-linguistic studies in syntax'' (Chap. 2, pp. 39–120). North-Holland linguistic series. Amsterdam: North-Holland Publishing Company.
*
McGregor, William B. (2010). Optional ergative case marking systems in a typological-semiotic perspective. ''Lingua'' 120: 1610–1636.
*Paul, Ileana & Travis, Lisa. (2006). Ergativity in Austronesian languages: What it can do, what it can't, but not why. In A. Johns, D. Massam, & J. Ndayiragije (Eds.), ''Ergativity: Emerging Issues'' (pp. 315–335). Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer.
* Plank, Frans. (Ed.). (1979). ''Ergativity: Towards a theory of grammatical relations''. London: Academic Press.
* Rude, Noel. (1983). Ergativity and the active-stative typology in Loma. ''Studies in African Linguistics'' 14 (3): 265–283.
* Schachter, Paul. (1976). The subject in Philippine languages: Actor, topic, actor-topic, or none of the above. In C. Li. (Ed.), ''Subject and topic'' (pp. 491–518). New York: Academic Press.
* Schachter, Paul. (1977). Reference-related and role-related properties of subjects. In P. Cole & J. Sadock (Eds.), ''Syntax and semantics: Grammatical relations'' (Vol. 8, pp. 279–306). New York: Academic Press. .
* Silverstein, Michael. (1976). Hierarchy of Features and Ergativity. In R.M.W. Dixon (ed.) ''Grammatical Categories in Australian Languages'' (pp. 112–171). New Jersey: Humanities Press. . Reprinted in Pieter Muysken and
Henk van Riemsdijk (eds.), ''Features and Projections'' (pp. 163–232). Dordrecht: Foris. .
* Suda, Junichi (2025). “''The'' ''Late-Klimov Model'' for Typological Classification of Active, Ergative, and Nominative Languages ― Re-evaluation of ''the Five Macroroles Model'', et al.”. ''Typological Studies'' 7: 83–109.
* Verbeke, Saartje. 2013. ''Alignment and ergativity in new
Indo-Aryan languages
The Indo-Aryan languages, or sometimes Indic languages, are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. As of 2024, there are more than 1.5 billion speakers, primarily concentrated east ...
.'' Berlin: de Gruyter.
*
Vydrin, Valentin. (2011). Ergative/Absolutive and Active/Stative alignment in West Africa:The case of Southwestern Mande. ''Studies in Language'' 35 (2): 409–443.
External links
"A quick tutorial on ergativity, by way of the Squid-headed one" at Recycled Knowledge (blog), by John Cowan, 2005-05-05.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ergative-absolutive language
Language
Linguistic typology