Definitions
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun linguistics A structuring
property of thegrammar of certainlanguages consisting in thedifferential treatment given to A (thesubject oftransitive verbs ), in contrast to O (theobject of transitive verbs) and S (the subject ofintransitive verbs), which are treated similarly. This differential treatment may take the form of a specialcase marker (e.g., anaffix or aparticle ) used with A but not with O or S, or of a specificagreement pattern (e.g., the verb may agree in person and number with A, but not with O and S).
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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In many cases, the ergativity may be syntactic in nature and solved with something like movement, which would like the universal intact.
Do Language Universals Exist? GamesWithWords 2010
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Yes, like pretty much every other proposed universal, there are some potential counter-examples to universal linking rules, such as ergativity.
Do Language Universals Exist? GamesWithWords 2010
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But there are also a few languages claimed to have "deep ergativity," which can't be solved by movement.
Do Language Universals Exist? GamesWithWords 2010
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Strange, I've posted exactly about this pre-Etruscan *i- deictic and its relationship to animacy, ergativity, and PIE *i- before online somewhere Yahoogroups like Cybalist perhaps?
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In the global scheme of things, ergativity isn't exotic or rare; it's natural and common!
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It sometimes strikes me that these "ergative Pre-IE proponents" are simply intoxicated by the mere exoticness (or should we say apparent exoticness) of ergativity, seduced by a fashion that will some day pass (hopefully).
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What I personally think happened was that the pronominal case system transmogrified due to ergativity.
Back to business: emphatic particles and verbal extensions 2008
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In the global scheme of things, ergativity isn't exotic or rare; it's natural and common!
Archive 2008-06-01 2008
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It sometimes strikes me that these "ergative Pre-IE proponents" are simply intoxicated by the mere exoticness (or should we say apparent exoticness) of ergativity, seduced by a fashion that will some day pass (hopefully).
Archive 2008-06-01 2008
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