Editing Ergative–absolutive alignment (section)

===Morphological ergativity===
If the language has morphological [[grammatical case|case]], then the [[verb argument]]s are marked thus:
* The agent of a transitive verb ('''A''') is marked as [[ergative case]], or as a similar case such as [[oblique case|oblique]].
* The core argument of an intransitive verb ('''S''') and the object of a transitive verb ('''O''') are both marked with [[absolutive case]].<ref name="auto"/>

If there is no case marking, ergativity can be marked through other means, such as in verbal morphology. For instance, [[Abkhaz language|Abkhaz]] and most [[Mayan languages]] have no morphological ergative case, but they have a verbal agreement structure that is ergative. In languages with ergative–absolutive agreement systems, the absolutive form is usually the most [[markedness|unmarked]] form of a word (exceptions include [[Nias language|Nias]] and [[Tlapanec language|Tlapanec]]).<ref>Donohue, Mark (2008). "Semantic alignment systems: what's what, and what's not". In Donohue, Mark & Søren Wichmann, eds. (2008). ''The Typology of Semantic Alignment''. Oxford: Oxford University Press.</ref>

The following examples from [[Basque language|Basque]] demonstrate an ergative–absolutive case marking system:

{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="7" align="center" | Ergative language
|-
! Sentence:
| colspan="2" | ''Martin etorri da.''
|     
| colspan="3" | ''Martinek Diego ikusi du.''
|-
! Word:
| Martin<span style="color:#008000">'''-Ø'''</span>
| etorri da
|     
| Martin<span style="color:#800000">'''-ek'''</span>
| Diego<span style="color:#008000">'''-Ø'''</span>
| ikusi du
|-
! Gloss:
| Martin<span style="color:#008000">'''-<small>ABS</small>'''</span>
| has arrived
|     
| Martin<span style="color:#800000">'''-<small>ERG</small>'''</span>
| Diego<span style="color:#008000">'''-<small>ABS</small>'''</span>
| has seen
|-
! Function:
| <span style="color:#008000">'''S'''</span>
| VERB<sub>intrans</sub>
|     
| <span style="color:#800000">'''A'''</span>
| <span style="color:#008000">'''O'''</span>
| VERB<sub>trans</sub>
|-
! Translation:
| colspan="2" | "Martin has arrived."
|     
| colspan="3" | "Martin has seen Diego."
|}

Here ''-Ø'' represents a [[Null morpheme|zero morpheme]], as the absolutive case is unmarked in Basque with proper nouns (i.e., Martin, Diego, Berlin...). The forms for the ergative are ''-k'' after a vowel, and ''-ek'' after a consonant. It is a further rule in Basque grammar that in most cases a noun phrase must be closed by a [[determiner]]. The default determiner (commonly called the [[Article (grammar)|article]], which is suffixed to [[Noun|common nouns]] and usually translatable by "the" in English) is ''-a'' in the singular and ''-ak'' in the plural, the plural being marked only on the determiner and never the noun. For common nouns, this default determiner is fused with the ergative case marker. Thus one obtains the following forms for ''gizon'' ("man"): ''gizon-a'' (man-the.sing.abs), ''gizon-ak'' (man-the.pl.abs), ''gizon-ak'' (man-the.sing.erg), ''gizon-ek'' (man-the.pl.erg). When fused with the article, the absolutive plural is [[Homophony (linguistics)|homophonous]] with the ergative singular. See [[Basque grammar]] for details.<ref>King, Alan R. ''The Basque Language: A Practical Introduction.'' Reno: University of Nevada Press.</ref>

Another example from [[Circassian language]] that demonstrates an ergative–absolutive case marking system while using the same verb "break" in both intransitive and transitive forms:
{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="7" align="center" | Ergative language
|-
! Sentence:
| colspan="2" | ''ӏанэр мэкъутэ.''<br />''ʔaːnar maqʷəta.''
|     
| colspan="3" | ''Лӏым ӏанэр екъутэ.''<br />''ɬʼəm ʔaːnar jaqʷəta.''
|-
! Word:
| ӏанэ<span style="color:#008000">'''-р'''</span><br />ʔaːna<span style="color:#008000">'''-r'''</span>
| мэкъутэ<br />maqʷəta
|     
| Лӏы<span style="color:#800000">'''м'''</span><br />ɬʼə<span style="color:#800000">'''m'''</span>
| ӏанэ<span style="color:#008000">'''р'''</span><br />ʔaːna<span style="color:#008000">'''r'''</span>
| екъутэ<br />jaqʷəta
|-
! Gloss:
| The table<span style="color:#008000">'''-<small>ABS</small>'''</span>
| breaks
|     
| The man<span style="color:#800000">'''-<small>ERG</small>'''</span>
| the table<span style="color:#008000">'''-<small>ABS</small>'''</span>
| breaks
|-
! Function:
| <span style="color:#008000">'''S'''</span>
| VERB<sub>intrans</sub>
|     
| <span style="color:#800000">'''A'''</span>
| <span style="color:#008000">'''O'''</span>
| VERB<sub>trans</sub>
|-
! Translation:
| colspan="2" | "The table breaks."
|     
| colspan="3" | "The man breaks the table."
|}
Here, "table" has the absolutive case mark -р /-r/ while "man" has the ergative case mark -м /-m/. We also have the verb "break" in intransitive form "мэкъутэ" and transitive form "екъутэ". In the example above, we specifically used SOV order, but Circassian allows any order.

In contrast, [[Japanese language|Japanese]] is a nominative–accusative language:

{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="7" align="center" | Accusative language
|-
! Sentence:
| colspan="2" |{{lang|ja|男の人が着いた。}} ''Otokonohito ga tsuita.''
|     
| colspan="3" |{{lang|ja|男の人が子供を見た。}} ''Otokonohito ga kodomo o mita.''
|-
! Words:
| otokonohito <span style="color:#008000">'''ga'''</span>
| tsuita
|     
| otokonohito <span style="color:#008000">'''ga'''</span>
| kodomo <span style="color:#800000">'''o'''</span>
| mita
|-
! Gloss:
| man <span style="color:#008000">'''<small>NOM</small>'''</span>
| arrived
|     
| man <span style="color:#008000">'''<small>NOM</small>'''</span>
| child <span style="color:#800000">'''<small>ACC</small>'''</span>
| saw
|-
! Function:
| <span style="color:#008000">'''S'''</span>
| VERB<sub>intrans</sub>
|     
| <span style="color:#008000">'''A'''</span>
| <span style="color:#800000">'''O'''</span>
| VERB<sub>trans</sub>
|-
! Translation:
| colspan="2" | "The man arrived."
|     
| colspan="3" | "The man saw the child."
|}

In this language, the argument of the intransitive and agent of the transitive sentence are marked with the same [[nominative case]] particle ''ga'', while the object of the transitive sentence is marked with the [[accusative case]] ''o''.

If one sets: A = agent of a transitive verb; S = argument of an intransitive verb; O = object of a transitive verb, then we can contrast normal nominative–accusative English with a hypothetical ergative English:

{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="1" align="center" | 
| colspan="3" align="center" | accusative English<br>(S form = A form)
| colspan="6" align="center" style="border-left: 2px solid darkgray;" | hypothetical ergative English<br>(S form = O form)
|-
! colspan="1" align="center" | word order
| colspan="3" align="center" | SVO
| colspan="3" align="center" style="border-left: 2px solid darkgray;" | SOV
| colspan="3" align="center" style="border-left: 2px solid darkgray;" | VOS
|- style="border-top: 2px solid darkgray;" 
! colspan="1" align="center" | transitive
| colspan="1" align="center" | nominative A
| colspan="1" align="center" | 
| colspan="1" align="center" | accusative O
| colspan="1" align="center" style="border-left: 2px solid darkgray;" | ergative A
| colspan="1" align="center" | absolutive O
| colspan="1" align="center" | 
| colspan="1" align="center" style="border-left: 2px solid darkgray;" | 
| colspan="1" align="center" | absolutive O
| colspan="1" align="center" | ergative A
|-
! colspan="1" align="center" | 
| colspan="1" align="center" | He
| colspan="1" align="center" | kisses
| colspan="1" align="center" | her.
| colspan="1" align="center" style="border-left: 2px solid darkgray;" | He
| colspan="1" align="center" | her
| colspan="1" align="center" | kisses.
| colspan="1" align="center" style="border-left: 2px solid darkgray;" | Kisses
| colspan="1" align="center" | her
| colspan="1" align="center" | he.
|-
! colspan="1" align="center" | 
| colspan="1" align="center" | She
| colspan="1" align="center" | kisses
| colspan="1" align="center" | him.
| colspan="1" align="center" style="border-left: 2px solid darkgray;" | She
| colspan="1" align="center" | him
| colspan="1" align="center" | kisses.
| colspan="1" align="center" style="border-left: 2px solid darkgray;" | Kisses
| colspan="1" align="center" | him
| colspan="1" align="center" | she.
|- style="border-top: 2px solid darkgray;" 
! colspan="1" align="center" | intransitive
| colspan="1" align="center" | nominative S
| colspan="1" align="center" | 
| colspan="1" align="center" | 
| colspan="1" align="center" style="border-left: 2px solid darkgray;" | absolutive S
| colspan="1" align="center" | 
| colspan="1" align="center" | 
| colspan="1" align="center" style="border-left: 2px solid darkgray;" | 
| colspan="1" align="center" | 
| colspan="1" align="center" | absolutive S
|-
! colspan="1" align="center" | 
| colspan="1" align="center" | He
| colspan="1" align="center" | smiles.
| colspan="1" align="center" | 
| colspan="1" align="center" style="border-left: 2px solid darkgray;" | Him
| colspan="1" align="center" | 
| colspan="1" align="center" | smiles.
| colspan="1" align="center" style="border-left: 2px solid darkgray;" | Smiles
| colspan="1" align="center" | 
| colspan="1" align="center" | him.
|-
! colspan="1" align="center" | 
| colspan="1" align="center" | She
| colspan="1" align="center" | smiles.
| colspan="1" align="center" | 
| colspan="1" align="center" style="border-left: 2px solid darkgray;" | Her
| colspan="1" align="center" | 
| colspan="1" align="center" | smiles.
| colspan="1" align="center" style="border-left: 2px solid darkgray;" | Smiles
| colspan="1" align="center" | 
| colspan="1" align="center" | her.
|}

A number of languages have both ergative and accusative morphology. A typical example is a language that has nominative-accusative marking on verbs and ergative–absolutive case marking on nouns.

[[Georgian language|Georgian]] has an ergative alignment, but the agent is only marked with the ergative case in the [[perfective]] aspect (also known as the "aorist [[screeve]]"). Compare:

:{{Transliteration|ka|K'aci vašls č'ams.}} ({{lang|ka|კაცი ვაშლს ჭამს}}) "The man is eating an apple."
:{{Transliteration|ka|K'ac'''ma''' vašli č'ama.}} ({{lang|ka|კაცმა ვაშლი ჭამა}}) "The man ate an apple."

{{Transliteration|ka|K'ac-}} is the root of the word "man". In the first sentence (present continuous tense) the agent is in the nominative case ({{Transliteration|ka|k'aci}}&thinsp;). In the second sentence, which shows ergative alignment, the root is marked with the ergative suffix {{Transliteration|ka|-ma}}.

However, there are some intransitive verbs in Georgian that behave like transitive verbs, and therefore employ the ergative case in the past tense. Consider:

:{{Transliteration|ka|K'ac'''ma''' daacemina.}} ({{lang|ka|კაცმა დააცემინა}}) "The man sneezed."

Although the verb "sneeze" is clearly intransitive, it is conjugated like a transitive verb. In Georgian there are a few verbs like these, and there has not been a clear-cut explanation as to why these verbs have evolved this way. One explanation is that verbs such as "sneeze" used to have a direct object (the object being "nose" in the case of "sneeze") and over time lost these objects, yet kept their transitive behavior.

==== Differing noun-pronoun alignment ====
In rare cases, such as the [[Australian Aboriginal languages|Australian Aboriginal language]] [[Nhanda language|Nhanda]], different nominal elements may follow a different case-alignment template. In Nhanda, common nouns have ergative-absolutive alignment—like in most Australian languages—but most pronouns instead follow a [[Nominative–accusative alignment|nominative-accusative]] template. In Nhanda, the [[absolutive case]] has a null suffix while [[ergative case]] is marked with some [[allomorph]] of the suffixes ''-nggu'' or ''-lu.'' See the common noun paradigm at play below:<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Laughren|first1=Mary|last2=Blevins|first2=Juliette|date=June 2003|title=Nhanda: An Aboriginal Language of Western Australia|journal=Oceanic Linguistics|volume=42|issue=1|pages=259|doi=10.2307/3623460|jstor=3623460}}</ref>

'''Intransitive Subject (ABS)'''
{{Interlinear|pundu yatka-yu|rain.ABS go-ABL.NFUT|Rain is coming.}}
'''Transitive Subject-Object (ERG-ABS)'''
{{Interlinear|nyarlu-nggu yawarda nha-'i|woman-ERG kangaroo.ABS see-PAST|The woman saw the kangaroo}}
Compare the above examples with the case marking of pronouns in Nhanda below, wherein all subjects (regardless of verb transitivity) are marked (in this case with a null suffix) the same for case while transitive objects take the [[Accusative case|accusative]] suffix ''-nha''.

'''Intransitive Pronoun Subject (NOM)'''
{{Interlinear|wandha-ra-nyja yatka-ndha?|Where-3.OBL-2SG.NOM go-NPAST|Where are you going?}}
'''Transitive Pronoun Subject-Object (NOM-ACC)'''
{{Interlinear|nyini nha-'i ngayi-nha|2.NOM see-PST 1-ACC|You saw me}}