Ergative case


In grammar, the ergative case is the grammatical case that identifies a nominal phrase as the agent of a transitive verb in ergative–absolutive languages.
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 and "He sleeps" is Subject-Noun with no object. But in languages that use an Ergative-Absolutive model, the Ergative is used as "doer" only in a transitive sentence, otherwise the Absolutive is used. So it's like saying "I help him" but "Him sleeps" .

Characteristics

In such languages, the ergative case is typically marked, while the absolutive case is unmarked. Recent work in case theory has vigorously supported the idea that the ergative case identifies the agent of a verb.
In Kalaallisut for example, the ergative case is used to mark subjects of transitive verbs and possessors of nouns. This syncretism with the genitive is commonly referred to as the relative case.
Nez Perce has a three-way nominal case system with both ergative and accusative plus an absolute 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 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’ ; páwapaataya łmámayin ‘the old woman helped him/her’.
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.
Other languages that use the ergative case are Georgian, Chechen, and other Caucasian languages, Mayan languages, Mixe–Zoque languages, Wagiman and other Australian Aboriginal languages as well as Basque, Burushaski and Tibetan. Among all Indo-European languages, only Yaghnobi, Kurdish language varieties and Pashto from the Iranian languages and Hindi/Urdu, along with some other Indo-Aryan languages, are ergative.
The ergative case is also a feature of some constructed languages such as Na'vi, Ithkuil and Black Speech.