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Recent work in case theory has vigorously supported the idea that the ergative case identifies the agent (the intentful performer of an action) of a verb. [ 4 ] In Kalaallisut (Greenlandic) for example, the ergative case is used to mark subjects of transitive verbs and possessors of nouns.
In the Northern Kurdish language Kurmanji, the ergative case is marked on agents and verbs of transitive verbs in past tenses, for the events actually occurred in the past. Present, future and "future in the past" tenses show no ergative mark neither for agents nor the verbs. For example: (1) Ez diçim. (I go) (2) Ez wî dibînim. (I see him.)
In general linguistics, a labile verb (or ergative verb) is a verb that undergoes causative alternation; that is, it can be used both transitively and intransitively, with the requirement that the direct object of its transitive use corresponds to the subject of its intransitive use, [1] as in "I ring the bell" and "The bell rings."
The term ergative is used in grammar in three different meanings: Ergative case , the grammatical case of the subject of a transitive verb in an ergative-absolutive language Ergative–absolutive language , a language in which the subject of an intransitive verb behaves like the object of a transitive verb
An example of split ergativity conditioned by the grammatical aspect is found in Hindustani (Hindi-Urdu); in the perfective aspect of transitive verbs (in active voice), the subject takes ergative case and the direct object takes an unmarked absolutive case identical to the nominative case, which is sometimes called direct case.
Nominative–accusative (or simply accusative): The argument (subject) of an intransitive verb is in the same case as the agent (subject) of a transitive verb; this case is then called the nominative case, with the patient (direct object) of a transitive verb being in the accusative case. Ergative–absolutive (or simply ergative): The argument ...
Ergative–absolutive languages can detransitivize transitive verbs by demoting the O and promoting the A to an S, thus taking the absolutive case, called the antipassive voice. About a sixth of the world's languages have ergative alignment. The best known are probably the Inuit languages and Basque.
In ergative/absolute system, the same case (absolutive) is assigned to the object of transitive verbs and subject of intransitive verbs. Ergative case is assigned to the subjects of transitive verbs. Most languages do not strictly follow either Nom/Acc or Erg/Abs case systems but often use a combination of both systems in different circumstances.