Ergative Construction?

I have a rudimentary language which seems like it could be ergative. Any help would be appreciated.

In the language there are morphemes which agree with the object of the verb:

myo' /mjo?/ "to hunt (something)
myo'es /mjo?@s/ "to hunt things"
myo'a /mjo?a/ "to have hunted something"
myo'as /mjo?as/ "to have hunted things"

(Note these can also be 3rd person singular "he hunts it", "he hunts them")

However, when these are attached to an intransitive verb, the meaning is different:

pe'tenyi /pe?ti-nyi/
   "to go into some inhabitable area"
   "he goes into some inhabitable area"
pe'tenyis /pe?ti-nyis/
    "they go... "

(phonology note: [e] > [i-]/_n)

So my question is, could this be a form of ergative morphology?

Elliott

Reply