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ergative

   Also found in: Encyclopedia, Wikipedia 0.09 sec.
er·ga·tive  (ûrg-tv)
adj.
1. Of or relating to a language, such as Georgian, in which the subject of an intransitive verb and the object of a transitive verb is expressed by one grammatical case, and the subject of a transitive verb is expressed by another.
2. Of or relating to the grammatical case of the subject of a transitive verb in such a language.
n.
1. The ergative case.
2. An ergative inflection.
3. A nominal having an ergative form.

[From Greek ergats, worker, from ergon, work; see werg- in Indo-European roots.]

erga·tivi·ty n.


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Finally, Hook's "On Identifying the Conceptual Restructuring of Passive as Ergative in Indo-Aryan" evaluates the Old Indo-Aryan passive and the New Indo-Aryan ergative constructions in the context of a typological discussion of similar structures in other language families.
 
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