Ergativity Cheat Sheet
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1
2
3
4
5
6
7E
C
S
RGATIVITY
HEAT
HEET
Jessica Coon, McGill University
jessica.coon@mcgill.ca
November, 2012
1 What is “ergativity”?
An ergative alignment is one in which the transitive object (P) patterns with the intransitive
subject (S), and differently from the transitive subject (A)
• Concerns: is it always easy to tell when a verb is “transitive”? Which is the “subject”?
(1) E
-
:
(2) N
-
:
RGATIVE
ABSOLUTIVE
OMINATIVE
ACCUSATIVE
A
P
A
P
transitive:
ERG
ABS
NOM
ACC
S
S
intransitive:
ABS
NOM
“Ergativity” is (or should be) a descriptive label, used to describe patterning like that in (1)—how
ergativity arises, what it means for Case assignment, etc., is a separate question
Some patterns. . .
(3) T
ONGAN
a. Na’e
t¯ a mete’i
’e
T¯ e vita
’a
K¯ o liate.
kill
David
Goliath
PST
ERG
ABS
‘David killed Goliath.’
b. Na’e
lea
’a
Tolu.
speak
Tolu
PST
ABS
‘Tolu spoke.’
(Comrie
1978)
(4) B
ASQUE
a. Ehiztari-ak
otso-a
harrapatu
du.
hunter-
wolf-
caught
ERG
ABS
AUX
‘The hunter has caught the wolf.’
b. Otso-a
etorri
da.
wolf-
arrived
ABS
AUX
‘The wolf has arrived.’
(Laka
1996)
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