Nik Taylor wrote:
> J Matthew Pearson wrote:
> > I know a bit about ergativity, and it seems weird to me too. In my
> > conlang Tokana, which is sort of ergative
> > (cf. the recent thread on active languages), the linking verb,
> > equivalent to "be" in English, takes two absolutive arguments.
>
> Well, Arabic uses accusative for the "object" of "to be" (i.e., treating
> it as if it were a typical verb), so if that's possible, why wouldn't
> ergative be possible as the subject of "to be"?
Because "to be"--insofar as it's a verb at all--is an intransitive verb.
Matt.