Re: What is ergative?

Siyo
I'm probably as ignorant as you, Chris.  I hope,
though, that we have an environment here in which we
can feel free to ask questions, regardless of what we
know.  If not, we have a serious problem.

Clint


--- Christopher B Wright <faceloran@...> wrote:
> First off, I want to say that you're all making me
> feel stupid. That's
> something which is wrong with me; that is, I'm
> actually ignorant.
>
> More importantly, I'd like to know what
> nominative/ergative languages
> are. It seemed to me as if they use semantic purpose
> as grammatical
> function; that is, whatever is doing the action in
> the meaning is the
> subject of the sentence, no matter whether the
> subject is the emphasized
> part of the sentence. Am I correct? (Probably not,
> but even a hog with no
> nose can find a truffle once in a while.)
>
> Chris Wright
>
> "The purpose of argument is to change the nature of
> the truth." Bene
> Gesserit saying.

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