Is Georgian an ergative language?
Is Georgian an ergative language?
Georgian is a split ergativity language (a verb in the aorist screeve requires its arguments to be marked by an ergative pattern while the other screeves trigger nominative-accusative marking) and exhibits active alignment (subject of intransitive active verbs is marked with the ergative).
What is ergative construction?
a type of sentence construction in which the subject of a transitive verb is indicated by a special marker, and the marker of the direct object coincides with that of the subject of an intransitive verb.
What is the Ergative case example?
An ergative verb is a verb that can be both transitive and intransitive, where the subject of the intransitive verb is the same as the object of the transitive verb. For example, ‘open’ is an ergative verb because you can say ‘The door opened’ or ‘She opened the door.
What is ergative linguistics?
Introduction. Ergativity refers to a system of marking grammatical relations in which intransitive subjects pattern together with transitive objects (“absolutive”), and differently from transitive subjects (“ergatives”).
How hard is Georgian grammar?
Yes. According to the Language Difficulty Ranking scale, which is maintained by the US State Department and applies to native English speakers, Georgian is a category 4 language (out of 5). Language Difficulty Ranking Plus, it’s noted as an “exceptionally difficult” level 4.
What is ergative pair?
An ergative verb pair occurs in English where there are a pair of related verbs, where one is (generally) an intransitive verb, and another is (generally) transitive verb meaning to cause (1) to happen. They are a vestige from earlier forms of English, where stem-changing was prevalent.
What is an Ergative case marker?
Ergativity is a term used in traditional descriptive and typological linguistics to refer to a system of nominal case-marking where the subject of an intransitive verb has the same morphological marker as a direct object, and a different morphological marker from the subject of a transitive verb.
What are ergative markers?
Ergativity is a term that refers to a certain pattern that some languages show in treating arguments of a verb. In an ergative case system, S and O appear in the same case, absolutive and A appears in a special case, ergative. An ergative pattern of case marking is referred to as morphological ergativity.
Are Georgians tough?
If you didn’t know already, Georgians are a pretty tough crowd. Don’t let our charming smiles and warm hospitality fool you–we can stand through snow storms, blazing hot weather annoying traffic and more!
Is Georgian an ergative–absolutive language?
However, Georgian case morphology (that is, the declension of nouns using case marks) does not always coincide with verbal alignment. Georgian has often been said to exhibit split ergativity; morphologically speaking, it is said that it mostly behaves like an ergative–absolutive language in the Series II (“aorist”) screeves.
What is an ergative language?
An ergative language maintains a syntactic or morphological equivalence (such as the same word order or grammatical case) for the object of a transitive verb and the single core argument of an intransitive verb, while treating the agent of a transitive verb differently.
What is the grammar of the Georgian language?
The Georgian language belongs to the Kartvelian family. Georgian grammar is remarkably different from European languages and has many distinct features, such as split ergativity and a polypersonal verb agreement system.
What is the syntax of Georgian?
Georgian syntax and verb agreement are largely those of a nominative–accusative language. That is, the subject of an intransitive verb and the subject of a transitive verb are treated alike when it comes to word order within the sentence, and agreement marks on verbs complex.
