Re: Ergativity

> From: Paul Bennett
>
> On 21 Jan 00, at 7:36, FFlores wrote:
>
> > He also forwarded me a question appeared in alt.usage.spanish
> > where someone asked about ergativity in general, and about
> > ergativity in Spanish (!?). I told him to tell the guy that
> > there was no such thing. But anyway, if you have any resources
> > on ergativity, or want to contribute a nice definition, or
> > have any idea why he could've thought of ergativity in Spanish,
> > please tell me.
>
> Yes, anyone out there who has a definitive definition, please post it.
[snip]

> FWIW, here's a summary of Trask (1993), though you probably are familiar
> with all the facts presented here:
>
> ergative n. or adj.
>
> 1.
> The distinctive case form marking the subject of a transitive verb in
> morphologically ergative languages and contrasting there with the
> absolutive, used for intransitive subjects and direct objects.
>
> 2. (more fully, ergative-absolutive)
> Denoting a grammatical pattern in which subjects of intransitive verbs and
> direct objects of transitive verbs are treaded identically for grammatical
> purposes, while subjects of transitive verbs are treated differently.
> Ergativity can be manifested morphologically (most typically, in the case
> marking of argument NPs and in verbal argeement) or syntactically
> (e.g., in
> the control of pronominalisation on in the coordination of VPs).
It's important to note the second of these definitions.  Most people when
thinking about ergativity assume only the first definition, i.e.
morphological ergativity (sometimes called intraclausal ergativity) which
involves only a distribution of case inflections.  The second of these,
syntactic ergativity (or interclausal ergativity) which involves syntactic
constraints on clause combination is often ignored.  amman iar is an example
of a conlang that exhibits both of these types of ergativity and I have an
extensive section describing both of these phenomena at
www.graywizard.net/ergativity.htm

David

David. E. Bell
The Gray Wizard
dbell@graywizard.net
www.graywizard.net

"Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards
for they are subtle and quick to anger"
JRRT