Re: Ergative

On Wed, 21 Oct 1998, R. Skrintha wrote, talking about Hindi:

> Btw, there are some ergative-like sentences also for perceptional/mental
> verbs/emotional verbs, wherein the ergative function is supplied by the
> formal dative case:
>
>   mujhe  yah  maloom hai
>   me-DAT this known  is
>   "I know this"
>
> Similarly, in Tamil, too:
>
>   enakku itu  teriyum
>   me-DAT this known
>   "I know this"
This isn't exactly an ergative construction, but rather a (probably)
related construction called the "experiencer dative".  Other languages
that have experiencer dative subjects include German, Icelandic, Korean,
Georgian, and my conlang Tokana (only the last two of which have ergative
characteristics).  An example from Tokana:

    Inai     Tsione    ionah     eiosok
    the:Dat  John-Dat  know-the  answer
    "John knows the answer"

Or, with the object as preverbal topic:

    Te       eiosok  ionana    Tsione
    the:Abs  answer  know-the  John-Dat
    "The answer is known to John"

I'm interested to see that Tamil has the experiencer dative construction
alongside Hindi.  Does Tamil also have split-ergativity?  (I seem to
remember that the Dravidian languages are nominative/accusative, but
I may be mistaken...)

Matt.