An unergative verb is an intransitive verb that is characterized semantically by having a subject

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 ...

which is an ''agent'' that actively initiates the action expressed by the verb. For example, in English, ''talk'' and ''resign'' in the sentence "You talk and you resign" are unergative verbs, since they are intransitive (one does not say "you talk someone") and "you" is the initiator or is responsible for talking and resigning. But ''fall'' and ''die'' in the sentence "They fall and die" are

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 ...

s, since usually they are not responsible for falling or dying but still the verb is intransitive, meaning it is comprehensively used without a direct object. (They cannot "fall something" or "die someone").Note: Dąbrowska (2016)pointed out that the phrase "''to die''" in English does not comply with the strict definition of an unaccusative verb, since it fails some of the distinctions from unergative verbs such as causative alternation, where an unaccusative like "break" works both ways in "The vase broke", and "He broke a vase", but an unergative works only one way like "The crowd laughed", but not "The comedian laughed the crowd". Se
Dąbrowska, A. "Unaccusative or unergative: The case of the English verb to die"
in Roczniki humanistyczne 64(11):25-39 · (January 2016). Some languages treat unergative verbs differently from other intransitives in

morphosyntactic In linguistics, morphology is the study of words, including the principles by which they are formed, and how they relate to one another within a language. Most approaches to morphology investigate the structure of words in terms of morphemes, wh ...

terms. For example, in some

Romance languages The Romance languages, also known as the Latin or Neo-Latin languages, are the languages that are Language family, directly descended from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-E ...

, such verbs use different auxiliaries when in compound tenses. Besides the above, unergative verbs differ from unaccusative verbs in that in some languages, they can occasionally use the

passive voice A passive voice construction is a grammatical voice construction that is found in many languages. In a clause with passive voice, the grammatical subject expresses the ''theme'' or ''patient'' of the main verb – that is, the person or thing ...

. In Dutch, for example, unergatives take (to have) in the perfect tenses: : :"I call (by phone). – I have called." In such cases, a transition to an impersonal passive construction is possible by using the adverb ''er'', which functions as a dummy subject and the passive auxiliary : : :literally, "*There is by Jan telephoned." (meaning "A telephone call by Jan is going on.") By contrast, Dutch

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 take ("to be") in the perfect tenses: : :"The grease solidifies – The grease ''has'' solidified." In that case, no passive construction with is possible. In other words, unergatives are truly intransitive, but ergatives are not.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Unergative Verb Transitivity and valency Syntax–semantics interface

See also

References