Dyirbal is said to be the only representative of syntactic ergativity, yet it displays accusative alignment with certain pronouns.
[remove, correct, give citation, or clarification needed] The ergative-absolutive alignment is in contrast to nominative–accusative alignment, which is observed in English and most other Indo-European languages, where the single argument of an intransitive verb ("She" in the sentence "She walks") behaves grammatically like the agent (subject) of a transitive verb ("She" in the sentence "She finds it") but different from the object of a transitive verb ("her" in the sentence "He likes her").
It is a further rule in Basque grammar that in most cases a noun phrase must be closed by a determiner.
For common nouns, this default determiner is fused with the ergative case marker.
[7] In contrast, Japanese is a nominative–accusative language: In this language, the argument of the intransitive and agent of the transitive sentence are marked with the same nominative case particle ga, while the object of the transitive sentence is marked with the accusative case o.
In the first sentence (present continuous tense) the agent is in the nominative case (k'aci ).
In Nhanda, common nouns have ergative-absolutive alignment—like in most Australian languages—but most pronouns instead follow a nominative-accusative template.
See the common noun paradigm at play below:[8] Intransitive Subject (ABS) pundurain.ABSyatka-yugo-ABL.NFUTpundu yatka-yurain.ABS go-ABL.NFUTRain is coming.Transitive Subject-Object (ERG-ABS) nyarlu-ngguwoman-ERGyawardakangaroo.ABSnha-'isee-PASTnyarlu-nggu yawarda nha-'iwoman-ERG kangaroo.ABS see-PASTThe woman saw the kangarooCompare the above examples with the case marking of pronouns in Nhanda below, wherein all subjects (regardless of verb transitivity) are marked (in this case with a null suffix) the same for case while transitive objects take the accusative suffix -nha.
Intransitive Pronoun Subject (NOM) wandha-ra-nyjaWhere-3.OBL-2SG.NOMyatka-ndha?go-NPASTwandha-ra-nyja yatka-ndha?Where-3.OBL-2SG.NOM go-NPASTWhere are you going?Transitive Pronoun Subject-Object (NOM-ACC) nyini2.NOMnha-'isee-PSTngayi-nha1-ACCnyini nha-'i ngayi-nha2.NOM see-PST 1-ACCYou saw meErgativity may be manifested through syntax, such as saying "Arrived I" for "I arrived", in addition to morphology.
English (SVO word order): Dyirbal (OSV word order): Crucially, the fifth sentence has an S/A pivot and thus is ill-formed in Dyirbal (syntactically ergative); on the other hand, the seventh sentence has an S/O pivot and thus is ill-formed in English (syntactically accusative).
Basque is unusual in having an almost fully ergative system in case-marking and verbal agreement, though it shows thoroughly nominative–accusative syntactic alignment.
[9] In Hindustani (Hindi and Urdu), the ergative case is marked on agents in the perfective aspect for transitive and ditransitive verbs (also for intransitive verbs when they are volitional),[10] while in other situations agents appear in the nominative case.
[11] Prototypical ergative languages are, for the most part, restricted to specific regions of the world: Mesopotamia (Kurdish, and some extinct languages), the Caucasus, the Americas, the Tibetan Plateau, and Australia and parts of New Guinea.
(If we follow the "semantic phonology" model proposed by William Stokoe (1991)[33] this ergative-absolutive patterning also works at the level of the lexicon: thus in Nepali Sign Language the sign for TEA has the motion for the verb DRINK with a manual alphabet handshape च /ca/ (standing for the first letter of the Nepali word TEA चिया /chiya:/) being incorporated as the object.)
Instead, it gives us a label for the person to whom the action is done: Etymologically, the sense in which "-ee" denotes the object of a transitive verb is the original one, arising from French past participles in "-é".
The underlying subject of a transitive is marked differently (typically with "by" as in a passive construction):