ergative Grammar

ergative Grammar
ergative Grammar ['ə:gətɪv]
adjective
1》 (in some languages, e.g. Basque) relating to or denoting a case of nouns that identifies the doer of an action as the object rather than the subject of a verb.
2》 (in English) denoting verbs which can be used both transitively and intransitively to describe the same action, with the object in the former case being the subject in the latter, as in I boiled the kettle and the kettle boiled. Compare with inchoative.
noun an ergative word or the ergative case.
Derivatives
ergativity noun
Origin
1950s: from Gk ergatēs 'worker' (from ergon 'work') + -ive.

English new terms dictionary. 2014.

Игры ⚽ Нужно решить контрольную?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Ergative-absolutive language — An ergative absolutive language (or simply ergative language) is a language that treats the argument ( subject ) of an intransitive verb like the object of a transitive verb but distinctly from the agent ( subject ) of a transitive verb. Ergative …   Wikipedia

  • Ergative — The term ergative is used in grammar in three different meanings:* Ergative case, * Ergative absolutive language * Ergative verb …   Wikipedia

  • ergative — /ˈɜgətɪv/ (say erguhtiv) adjective 1. Grammar causative. In a sentence like John moved the table, John is the agent or cause of the action, and the word John is the ergative subject. 2. Linguistics (of a language) having an ergative case. {Greek… …  

  • Georgian grammar — The Georgian language belongs to the South Caucasian or Kartvelian family. Some of its characteristics are akin to those of Slavic languages such as its system of verbal aspect, but Georgian grammar is remarkably different from Indo European… …   Wikipedia

  • Modern Standard Tibetan grammar — Tibetan grammar describes the morphology, syntax and other grammatical features of the Tibetan language, the language and dialects of the Tibetan people spoken across a wide area of eastern Central Asia. Generally considered a member of the… …   Wikipedia

  • Tagalog grammar — This article describes the grammar of both Tagalog, and Filipino mdash; which is de facto based on Tagalog.Nouns (Pangngalan)While Tagalog nouns are not inflected, they are usually preceded by case markers. There are three types of case markers:… …   Wikipedia

  • Mingrelian grammar — Megrelian is one of Kartvelian languages mainly spoken in Western Georgia (the regions of Samegrelo and Abkhazia). In Abkhazia the number of Megrelian speakers declined dramatically in 1990s as a result of heavy ethnic cleansing of Georgian… …   Wikipedia

  • Inuit grammar — The Inuit language, like other Eskimo Aleut languages, has a very rich morphological system, in which a succession of different morphemes are added to root words to indicate things that, in languages like English, would require several words to… …   Wikipedia

  • Ilokano grammar — Ilokano grammar, akin to many of the Philippine languages, is very different in many respects from European languages such as English. Ilokano has word classes such as nouns, verbs and adjectives found in a canonical grammar. Yet, Ilokano has… …   Wikipedia

  • Voice (grammar) — Grammatical categories Animacy Aspect Case Clusivity Definiteness Degree of comparison Evidentiality Focus …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”