SPLIT ERGATIVITY Meaning and
Definition
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Split ergativity is a grammatical phenomenon found in certain languages that exhibit a combination of both ergative and accusative alignments. Ergativity refers to a grammatical pattern where the subject of an intransitive verb and the object of a transitive verb are treated as the same grammatical case, often referred to as the ergative case. Accusativity, on the other hand, is the grammatical pattern where the subject of an intransitive verb and the object of a transitive verb are treated as the same grammatical case, often referred to as the absolutive case.
In languages exhibiting split ergativity, the distribution of ergative and accusative case marking is not consistent across all verb types. Rather, it varies depending on specific criteria, such as the tense, aspect, or grammatical features of the verb itself. This results in a division between transitive and intransitive verbs and their corresponding case marking, hence the term "split ergativity."
The split ergative pattern can manifest in different ways. It can occur in the domain of case marking, where some verbs exhibit ergative case marking while others show an accusative pattern. It can also be observed in verb agreement, where transitive verbs agree with the object rather than the subject, whereas intransitive verbs agree with the subject. Additionally, split ergativity can also involve the split of other grammatical features, such as word order or morphological marking.
Split ergativity is found in several languages around the world, including Basque, Mayan languages, many Australian Aboriginal languages, and some Indo-Aryan languages like Hindi and Nepali. It represents a complex grammatical system that deviates from the typical dichotomy of ergative and accusative alignments, highlighting the diversity and intricacies of human language structures.
Etymology of SPLIT ERGATIVITY
The term "split ergativity" combines two linguistic concepts: "split" and "ergativity".
The word "split" refers to a division or bifurcation. In linguistics, it specifically indicates a phenomenon where two or more related languages or dialects exhibit different patterns in a particular grammatical feature. It implies that a linguistic category that is usually uniform or consistent has become divided or split into multiple forms.
On the other hand, "ergativity" is a grammatical typology that defines how languages encode the subject of a transitive verb, namely, whether they are marked like the subject of an intransitive verb (called nominative), or like the object of a transitive verb (called accusative). Ergative languages mark the subject of intransitive verbs and the object of transitive verbs similarly, while marking the subject of a transitive verb differently.
