Ergativity

English

Etymology

From ergative + -ity.

Transliteration Pronunciation

• Hangul (Korean transliteration): 어거티비티

Noun

ergativity (uncountable)

1. (linguistics) The property of a grammar's (or, by extension, a language's) being ergative; the attribute of possessing a grammatical pattern such that the object of a transitive verb is treated the same way as the subject of an intransitive one, while the subject of the transitive verb is treated differently.
2. (linguistics) The property of a grammar's (or, by extension, a language's) being ergative; the attribute of having a grammatical pattern such that the object of a verb that takes an object (like “eat the apple”) is treated the same way as the subject of a verb that does not take an object (like “sleep”), while the doer of the action in a verb that takes an object is treated differently.

Coordinate terms

• accusativity

Derived terms

• unergativity
• split ergativity

Other Dictionary Entries for "Ergativity"

Wiktionary's Entry for "Ergativity" Cambridge Dictionary's Entry for "Ergativity"

See also

• absolutive case
• accusativity
• ergative case

Further reading

• Ergative–absolutive language
• Nominative–accusative language
• Morphosyntactic alignment