Re: Ergative?
| From: | Nik Taylor <fortytwo@...> |
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| Date: | Wednesday, January 30, 2002, 1:50 |
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Christophe Grandsire wrote:
> So nominative languages like English and Latin mark the subject of an
> intransitive verb in the same way as the subject of a transitive verb, while
> ergative languages (like Basque) mark the subject of an intransitive verb in
> the same way as the object of a transitive verb.
In other words, it would be as if you were to say:
Me ran, Him ran
I saw him, He saw me
Notice how "him" (absolutive) is used as the *subject* of "ran" but the
*object* of "saw", while a second form (ergative) is used for the
subject of "saw".
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