> > AFAIK, natlangs with ergative argument schemes mark ergativity
> > morphologically.
> Ever heard of Dyirbal...? ;)
I've heard the name of the language, but did not know that it has ergativity
that isn't morphologically marked. Can you give us a capsule description?
> > I suppose you could have ergative word order, where ergatives come
before
> > the verb and absolutives come after.
> > BILLY SAW SALLY.
> >
> > JUMPED SALLY.
> Shouldn't it rather be the other way around in that case,
> since the absolutive is the unmarked case?
> Daniel
I'm not sure what you mean by "marked" here. In my nonce word order
scheme, none of the arguments are marked for case; word order conveys the
relationships. However, I see no reason why we couldn't turn everything
around.
SALLY SAW BILLY = Billy saw Sally.
SALLY JUMPED = Sally jumped.
Jim