Re: Ergativity

Okay, so let me see if I can summarize the terminology:

Verb Arguments
        A = Agent (transitive subject)
        P = Patient (transitive object)
        S = Subject (intransitive)

Construct Categories
        Name                    Groupings
        Accusative              {A,  S} {P}
        Clairvoyant             {A,  P,  S}
        Ergative                {A} {S,  P}
        Monster Raving Loony    {A,  P} {S}
        Tripartite              {A} {P} {S}

Hierachical systems are morphologically and syntactically clairvoyant, but
instead of simply context, they use a formally defined ranking of all
nouns (the "animacy hierarchy") to distinguish A from P in two-argument
constructs.

-Mark

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