Ingrammar, theergative case (abbreviatederg) is thegrammatical case that identifies anominal phrase[2] as theagent of atransitive verb inergative–absolutive languages.[3]
Comparing this with English: we use a Subject-Object model where the Subject is the "doer" and the object is the one done to. For example, a sentence like "I help him" is Subject-Noun-Object (a transitive sentence) and "He sleeps" is Subject-Noun with no object (intransitive). But in languages that use an Ergative-Absolutive model, the Ergative is used as "doer" only in a transitive sentence, otherwise theAbsolutive is used. So it's like saying "I help him" (Ergative-Noun-Absolutive) but "Him sleeps" (Absolutive-Noun) (= sleeping is happening to him).
In such languages, the ergative case is typicallymarked (mostsalient), while theabsolutive case is unmarked. Recent work incase theory has vigorously supported the idea that the ergative case identifies the agent (the intentful performer of an action) of a verb.[4]
InKalaallisut (Greenlandic) for example, the ergative case is used to mark subjects of transitive verbs and possessors of nouns. Thissyncretism with thegenitive is commonly referred to as therelative case.
Nez Perce has a three-way nominal case system with both ergative (-nim) andaccusative (-ne) plus an absolute (unmarked) case for intransitive subjects:hipáayna qíiwn ‘the old man arrived’;hipáayna wewúkiye ‘the elk arrived’;wewúkiyene péexne qíiwnim ‘the old man saw an elk’.
Sahaptin has an ergative noun case (with suffix-nɨm) that is limited to transitive constructions only when the direct object is 1st or 2nd person:iwapáatayaaš łmámanɨm ‘the old woman helped me’;paanáy iwapáataya łmáma ‘the old woman helped him/her’ (direct);páwapaataya łmámayin ‘the old woman helped him/her’ (inverse).
In languages with an optional ergative, the choice between marking the ergative case or not depends on semantic or pragmatics aspects such as marking focus on the argument.[5]
Other languages that use the ergative case areGeorgian,Chechen, and otherCaucasian languages,Mayan languages,Mixe–Zoque languages,Wagiman and otherAustralian Aboriginal languages as well asBasque,Burushaski andTibetan. Among allIndo-European languages, onlyYaghnobi,Kurdish language varieties (includingKurmanji,Zazaki andSorani)[6] andPashto from theIranian languages andHindi/Urdu, along with some otherIndo-Aryan languages, are ergative.
The ergative case is also a feature of someconstructed languages such asNa'vi,Ithkuil andBlack Speech.
