Re: Lost in the wayside

> From: Nik Taylor
>
> Patrick Jarrett wrote:
> >
> > As it seems my last email was lost in the wayside, I would like to
> > know what the ergative case is.
>
> Oops, I meant to answer that one.  Anyhoo, ergative is basically the
> subject of a TRANSITIVE verb, in contrast to absolutive, which is the
> subject of an INTRANSITIVE verb, or the object of a transitive verb.
> For example:
>
> I-abs fell
> I-erg pushed him-abs
The term 'subject' is itself somewhat fuzzy in ergative languages as it
implies a grammatical relationship which is less relevant to ergative
languages than it is to accusative languages.  If you define the A-function
argument of a transitive predicate as that argument which is
"prototypically" agentive and the P-function argument of a transitive verb
as that argument that is "prototypically' patientive, then one can define
the ergative case as that case used to discriminate the A-function argument
of a transitive and thereby avoid the inherent (A=S, where the S-function
argument is the sole argument of an intransitive) "subject" relation.
Functionally, you get the same result as Nik has described, but this holds
for morphological ergativity only.  Syntactic ergativity is another matter.
See my description of ergativity in amman iar at
http://www.graywizard.net/Conlinguistics/ergativity.htm

David

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

"Wisdom begins in wonder." - Socrates