1. ergative - Noun
2. ergative - Adjective
Example (English)
Compare these two sentences:
A. Jill rolled the ball down the hill.
B. The ball rolled down the hill.
Sentence A is a transitive structure, while sentence B is an ergative structure. The ergative subject of sentence B (“the ball”) has a transitive counterpart in sentence A, where it is the object.
The sentences also show that roll is an ergative verb. It is used intransitively in sentence B to indicate that the ball moved, whereas in sentence A it is used transitively – the same thing happens to the ball, but the sentence identifies Jill as the agent who has caused the ball to move.
ergative (not comparable)
(grammar) With the subject of a transitive construction having grammatical cases or thematic relations different from those of an intransitive construction.
Synonym: elliptical
Antonym: unergative
The case systems of ergative languages are counter-intuitive to speakers of Indo-European languages.
Ellipsis of ergative case (“a grammatical case used to indicate the agent of a transitive verb in ergative-absolutive languages”).
An ergative verb or other expression.
Source: en.wiktionary.orgIn Kalaallisut (Greenlandic) for example, the ergative case is used to mark subjects of transitive verbs and possessors of nouns. Source: Internet
This dizkit can be split like this: * di- is used in the present tense when the verb has a subject (ergative), a direct object (absolutive), and an indirect object, and the object is him/her/it/them. Source: Internet
Many languages show mixed accusative and ergative behaviour (for example: ergative morphology marking the verb arguments, on top of an accusative syntax). Source: Internet
Martin-ek is the agent (transitive subject), so it is marked with the ergative case ending -k (with an epenthetic -e-). Source: Internet
The label is often used for ergative languages which do not have subjects, but have an agent –verb–object order. Source: Internet
Typology Some early Semitic languages are speculated to have had weak ergative features. citation. Source: Internet