WHAT DOES ERGATIVE MEAN IN ENGLISH?
Definition of ergative in the English dictionary
The first definition of ergative in the dictionary is denoting a type of verb that takes the same noun as either direct object or as subject, with equivalent meaning. Thus, "fuse" is an ergative verb: "He fused the lights" and "The lights fused" have equivalent meaning. Other definition of ergative is denoting a case of nouns in certain languages, for example, Inuktitut or Basque, marking a noun used interchangeably as either the direct object of a transitive verb or the subject of an intransitive verb. Ergative is also denoting a language that has ergative verbs or ergative nouns.
10 ENGLISH BOOKS RELATING TO «ERGATIVE»
Discover the use of
ergative in the following bibliographical selection. Books relating to
ergative and brief extracts from same to provide context of its use in English literature.
1
Cases and Thematic Roles:
Ergative, Accusative and Active
This study examines the mapping of thematic roles, such as agent and patient, onto syntactic cases, such as nominative or ergative, or onto structural relations in a cross-linguistic survey that is supplemented with German data.
2
The Teacher's Grammar of English with Answers: A Course Book ...
*Karen worked the job furiously. e. The girls ate all the pancakes. transitive f. The
girls ate early. intransitive Ergative Verbs In (37a), the verb shatter is clearly
transitive because it is preceded by a subject (the burglar) that is an agent
capable of ...
3
Functional Structure in Nominals: Nominalization and Ergativity
In this chapter I show how the view on nominalization put forward here enables
us to capture certain similarities between nominals in nominative-accusative
languages and certain patterns found in ergative languages. In order to do that I ...
4
Case and Agreement in Inuit
In Bok-Bennema and Groos (1984) we spoke of an 'ergative parameter', claiming
that Universal Grammar contained a parameter with an 'accusative' and an '
unaccusative' value. According to this claim, the language acquisition device has
a ...
Reineke Bok-Bennema, 1991
2.4.2. Ergative The ergative case marks the agent of a transitive verb. The
ergative suffix is -le/-re/-lle/-?ille. The form of the ergative suffix is /-le/ for the
indefinite and /-?ille/ for the definite after the consonants /?/, /k/ , /£/, /p/ , /b/ , /n/ , /
n/ and /m/ .
6
Lexical Specification and Insertion
large number of adjectives that are unergative according to the tests provided in
Section 2 appear to be ergative with respect to their argument structure. These
adjectives have a Theme-subject. If we assume that alignment of arguments ...
Peter Coopmans, Martin Everaert, Jane Barbara Grimshaw, 2000
The explanation of this phenomenon suggests itself immediately if we accept the
view that the passive construction is conceptually related to the ergative
construction. Like the ergative construction, the passive construction presents the
action ...
Fred Eckman, Edith A. Moravcsik, Jessica R. Wirth, 1986
Even if O were promoted to S in examples of this type it would still be an illicit
circumstance in which to employ the term 'ergative' for the same reasons as those
just given in the discussion of causatives and other S = O lexical pairs.
9
Morphologie: Ein Internationales Handbuch Zur Flexion und ...
Voice in ergative languages The definition of voice set out in section 2 is stated in
terms of the notion of diathesis, which in turn hinges on the notion of grammatical
functions of subject and object. There are at least two groups of languages in ...
G. E. Booij, Christian Lehmann, Joachim Mugdan, 2004
10
From Grammar to Politics: Linguistic Anthropology in a ...
Table 8 Number of Ergative Agents Referring to God by Speakers during the
Fono of April 7,1979 Total Number Agents Referring Speaker of Agents to God
Moe'ono 18 0 Iuli 10 1 Salanoa A. 9 9 different from that of the other high-ranking
...
9 NEWS ITEMS WHICH INCLUDE THE TERM «ERGATIVE»
Find out what the national and international press are talking about and how the term
ergative is used in the context of the following news items.
Tongues not turning
Kurdish belongs to a group of languages called “ergative languages.” You can sense, can you not, that this means more work for the language ... «Today's Zaman, Jun 15»
Europe in 60 languages
So Basque is an ergative language! Well, I never. I couldn't have told you that a week ago. I even know now what that means (more or less). «Spectator.co.uk, Nov 14»
Lingo: A Language Spotter's Guide to Europe by Gaston Dorren …
He uses Basque to explain the workings of an ergative language, while his account of Icelandic offers an overview of the factors that cause ... «Telegraph.co.uk, Nov 14»
On The Anniversary Of His Death: Why Lawyers Love David Foster …
... here comprises that small percentage of American citizens who actually care about the current status of double modals and ergative verbs. «Above the Law, Sep 14»
RICHARD KAY: Need therapy David Cameron? Call your ex-boss!
... a dash of Basque which, he explained, was one of the most difficult languages in because of its 'ergative' grammar. All double Dutch to me . «Daily Mail, Feb 13»
Evidence Mounting In The Case For Predictive Coding
When you consider some of the true subtleties within the Predictive Coding system, such as ergative or linguistic training, use of the term black ... «Metropolitan Corporate Counsel, Sep 12»
Linguistic Oppression, There and Here.
I did my master's thesis on the syntax of Lhasa Tibetan, a rare type of language that exhibits ergative case-marking patterns (Basque is another ... «Tapped, Oct 10»
Common solecisms
... appears in other forms, which gives all kinds of words: ergative, allergy, demiurge, dramaturge, metallurgy, surgery, organ and even orgy. «The Economist, Jul 10»
Leofranc Holford-Strevens
... the agent appearing in the instrumental, an alignment known as ergative. Thus gatā gopī means 'the milkmaid went,' but hatā gopī sainikena ... «London Review of Books, Jul 09»
