ergative language
- noun
- /ˈɜrɡətɪv ˈlæŋɡwɪdʒ/
- Specialized
- In an ergative language, the subject of an intransitive verb behaves like the object of a transitive verb.
Examples
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Basque is a well-known example of an ergative language.
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Linguists often compare English to an ergative language to illustrate differences in grammatical structure.
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In an ergative language, the roles of arguments are marked differently than in English.
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An ergative language can have unique grammatical structures.
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Many linguists study ergative languages to understand syntax.
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Basque is a well-known example of an ergative language.
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Linguists often explore how an ergative language differs from nominative-accusative languages.
Synonyms
A language where objects and subjects of intransitive verbs have the same form, while transitive subjects differ
Surface Forms
Morphology
ergative + language
The phrase is compositionally transparent in form—'ergative' simply modifies 'language' to mean a language that has ergative alignment—so if a learner actually knew the technical meaning of 'ergative' they could derive the MWE meaning. However, 'ergative' is a specialist linguistic term not predictable from everyday vocabulary and unknown to most B1 learners, so the overall understanding depends on prior technical knowledge rather than simple composition.
Etymology
Ergative language describes languages that mark the subject of a verb with no object (for example, 'she sleeps') the same way they mark the object of a verb with an object (for example, 'they see her'). So the 'doer' in 'she sleeps' is treated like the 'receiver' in 'they see her', and that is why we call such languages ergative.
