Editing Morphosyntactic alignment (section)

===Dixon (1994)===
The following notations will be used to discuss the various types of alignment:<ref name="Dixon1994" /><ref name="Comrie1978" />
*'''S''' (from ''sole''), the [[Subject (grammar)|subject]] of an [[intransitive verb]];
*'''A''' (from ''agent''), the subject of a [[transitive verb]];
*'''O''' (from ''object''), the [[Object (grammar)|object]] of a transitive verb. Some authors use the label '''P''' (from ''patient'') for O.

Note that while the labels S, A, O/P originally stood for subject, [[Agent (grammar)|agent]], object, and [[Patient (grammar)|patient]], respectively, the concepts of S, A, and O/P are distinct both from the [[grammatical relation]]s and [[thematic relation]]s. In other words, an A or S need not be an agent or subject, and an O need not be a patient. 

Note, however, that these semantic macro-roles in Dixon's model differ from those in Klimov's model (1983), which uses five macro-roles (with both S and O divided into two categories).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Suda |first=Junichi |date=2025 |title=The Late-Klimov Model for Typological Classification of Active, Ergative, and Nominative Languages ― Re-evaluation of the Five Macroroles Model, et al. |url=https://www.academia.edu/128211811/The_Late_Klimov_Model_for_Typological_Classification_of_Active_Ergative_and_Nominative_Languages_Re_evaluation_of_the_Five_Macroroles_Model_et_al |journal=Typological Studies |issue=7 |pages=83-107}}</ref>

In a nominative–accusative system, S and A are grouped together, contrasting O. In an ergative–absolutive system, S and O are one group and contrast with A. The [[English language]] represents a typical nominative–accusative system (''accusative'' for short). The name derived from the [[nominative case|nominative]] and [[accusative case|accusative]] cases. [[Basque language|Basque]] is an ergative–absolutive system (or simply ''ergative''). The name stemmed from the [[Ergative case|ergative]] and [[Absolutive case|absolutive]] cases. S is said to '''align with''' either A (as in English) or O (as in Basque) when they take the same form.

====Bickel & Nichols (2009)====
Listed below are argument roles used by Bickel and Nichols for the description of alignment types.<ref>[[Balthasar Bickel|Bickel, B]]. & [[Johanna Nichols|Nichols, J]]. (2009). Case marking and alignment. In A. Malchukov & A. Spencer (Eds.), ''The Oxford Handbook of Case'' (pp. 304-321). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.</ref> Their taxonomy is based on [[Thematic relation|semantic roles]] and [[Valency (linguistics)|valency]] (the number of arguments controlled by a [[Predicate (grammar)|predicate]]).
*'''S''', the sole argument of a one-place predicate
*'''A''', the more agent-like arguments of a two-place (A1) or three-place (A2) predicate
*'''O''', the less agent-like argument of a two-place predicate
*'''G''', the more goal-like argument of a three-place predicate
*'''T''', the non-goal-like and non-agent-like argument of a three-place predicate