Absolutely
The term for a case that appears next to the ergative in ergative languages is absolute . The absolute is usually infinite, i.e. H. unmarked, and thus resembles the nominative in nominative / accusative languages. It is used in intransitive sentences, i.e. those that only have one participant in the action, for this single participant in the action and thus marks the subject of these sentences. So far it is the same as the German nominative. In transitive sentences, however, the absolute is used to mark the object while the subject is in the ergative.
The absolute is sometimes referred to as the nominative because, like the nominative, it is mostly endless.
An example from Sumerian :
| lugal-Ø | have to |
| King- Absolute | came |
| The king came. (intransitive) | |
| lugal-e | bàd-Ø | in total |
| King- Ergative | Mauer- Absolute | tore down |
| The king tore down the wall. (transitive) | ||
Well-known ergative languages are besides Sumerian:
- Basque
- Hurrian
- many Iranian languages like Northern Kurdish and Pashto , but not Persian
- many Caucasian languages such as Chechen or Georgian
- many Australian languages
- many languages in the Himalayas such as Tibetan
- most of the Indo-Aryan languages of north India such as Hindi and Marathi
- the Eskimo-Aleut languages
- many languages in North , Central and South America
literature
- Hadumod Bußmann (Ed.): Lexicon of Linguistics. 3rd updated and expanded edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-520-45203-0 .
- Dietz Otto Edzard : Sumerian Grammar (= Handbook of oriental Studies. Section 1: The Near and Middle East. Vol. 71). Brill, Leiden 2003, ISBN 90-04-12608-2 .