Editing Ergative–absolutive alignment (section)

==Distribution of ergative languages==
Prototypical ergative languages are, for the most part, restricted to specific regions of the world: [[Mesopotamia]] ([[Kurdish language|Kurdish]], and some extinct languages), [[Caucasus|the Caucasus]], [[Indigenous languages of the Americas|the Americas]], the [[Tibetan Plateau]], and [[Australia]] and parts of [[New Guinea]].

Specific languages and language families include:

=== Americas ===
* [[Chibchan languages]]
* [[Chinookan languages]] (extinct)
* [[Coosan languages]]<ref>{{cite thesis |last=Doty |first=Christopher |year=2012 |title=A Reassessment of the Genetic Classification of Miluk Coos |type=Ph.D. dissertation |hdl=1794/12404 |hdl-access=free |publisher=University of Oregon}}</ref> (extinct)
* [[Eskimo–Aleut languages]]
* [[Guaicuruan languages]]
* [[Macro-Jê languages]]
* [[Mayan languages|Mayan]]
* [[Mixe–Zoque languages|Mixe–Zoque]]
* [[Panoan languages]]
* [[Salish languages]]
* [[Tsimshian languages|Tsimshian]]

=== Africa ===

* [[Teda language|Tedaga]], a [[Nilo-Saharan]] language of Southern Libya and Northern Chad.
* [[Majang language]], a [[Nilo-Saharan]] language of Ethiopia.
* [[Päri language|Päri]], although recent studies imply a nominative-accusative system.<ref>Ergativity, by R. M. W. Dixon, Cambridge Studies in Linguistics, vol. 69, 1994.</ref>

=== Asia ===
* [[Assamese language|Assamese]]
* [[Burushaski]]
* [[Chukchi language|Chukchi]]<ref name="urlLanguage Policy in the Soviet Union - L.A. Grenoble - Google Książki">{{cite book|last1=Grenoble|first1=L. A.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WUeWBwAAQBAJ&q=itelmen+language+ergative-absolutive&pg=PA19|title=Language Policy in the Soviet Union|date=2006-04-11|publisher=Springer |isbn=9780306480836}}</ref> (endangered)
* [[Hawu language|Hawu]]<ref>{{Cite book |title=A Grammar of Sawu |last=Walker |first=Alan T. |publisher=Badan Penyelenggara Seri Nusa, Universitas Atma Jaya |year=1982 |series=NUSA Linguistic Studies in Indonesian and Languages of Indonesia, Volume 13 |location=Jakarta |hdl=1885/111434 |issn=0126-2874  |hdl-access=free}}</ref>
* [[Standard Tibetan|Tibetan]]
* [[Sylheti language|Sylheti]]
* [[Yaghnobi language|Yaghnobi]]
* [[Pashto]]

=== Australian ===
* Most [[Australian Aboriginal languages]], such as [[Dyirbal language|Dyirbal]]
Certain [[Australian Aboriginal languages]] (e.g., [[Wangkumara]]) possess an [[intransitive case]] and an [[accusative case]] along with an [[ergative case]], and lack an [[absolutive case]]; such languages are called [[tripartite language]]s or ergative–accusative languages.

=== Papua ===
* [[Eastern Trans-Fly languages]]
* various [[Trans–New Guinea languages]]

=== Europe ===
* [[Basque language|Basque]]

=== Caucasus and Near East ===
* [[Hurrian language|Hurrian]] (extinct)
* [[Urartian language|Urartian]] (extinct)
* [[Sumerian language|Sumerian]] (extinct)<ref>{{cite journal |last=Michalowski |first=P. |year=1980 |title=Sumerian as an Ergative Language I |journal=Journal of Cuneiform Studies |volume=32 |issue=2 |pages=86–103 |doi=10.2307/1359671 |jstor=1359671|s2cid=164022054 }}</ref>
* [[South Caucasian languages|South Caucasian]]: [[Georgian language|Georgian]], [[Laz language|Laz]]
* [[Northeast Caucasian languages|Northeast Caucasian]]: [[Chechen language|Chechen]],  [[Lezgian language|Lezgian]], [[Tsez language|Tsez]], [[Archi language|Archi]] ([[endangered languages|endangered]])
* [[Northwest Caucasian languages|Northwest Caucasian]]: [[Abkhaz language|Abkhaz]], [[Circassian language|Circassian]], [[Ubykh language|Ubykh]] (extinct)
* [[Kurdish language|Kurdish]]: [[Gorani language (Zaza-Gorani)|Gorani]],<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UQKCofxuhlMC&pg=PA166|title = Differential Subject Marking|isbn = 9781402064975|last1 = Hoop|first1 = Helen de|last2 = Swart|first2 = Peter de|date = 4 December 2007| publisher=Springer }}</ref> [[Zaza language|Zazaki]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://home.utah.edu/~u0587010/Papers_files/zazaki-lightverbs.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2012-11-14 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130412222337/http://home.utah.edu/~u0587010/Papers_files/zazaki-lightverbs.pdf |archive-date=2013-04-12 }} (Aniko Csirmaz and Markéta Ceplová,  Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Zazaki is an ergative language)</ref><ref>http://roa.rutgers.edu/files/744-0605/744-ARKADIEV-0-0.PDF (Zazaki is an ergative language, page 17-18)</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Hoop |first=Helen de |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UQKCofxuhlMC&pg=PA166 |title=Differential Subject Marking |last2=Swart |first2=Peter de |date=2007-12-04 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-1-4020-6497-5 |language=en}}</ref> [[Sorani]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/229004264|title=A Derivational Account for Sorani Kurdish Passives|author=Géraldine Walther|date=1 January 2011|work=ResearchGate|access-date=10 May 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kurdishacademy.org/?q=fa/node/426|title=What Sorani Kurdish Absolute Prepositions Tell Us about Cliticization - Kurdish Academy of Language|work=kurdishacademy.org|access-date=10 May 2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Walther |first=Géraldine |date=2012 |title=Fitting into morphological structure: accounting for Sorani Kurdish endoclitics |url=https://pasithee.library.upatras.gr/mmm/article/view/2437/2696 |journal=Mediterranean Morphology Meetings |volume=8 |pages=299–321 |doi=10.26220/mmm.2437}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://linguistlist.org/deletedpage/|title=Ergativität im Sorani-Kurdischen?|first=Thomas|last=Jügel|date=September 17, 2007|via=linguistlist.org}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130412222124/http://www.lotpublications.nl/publish/articles/001993/bookpart.pdf |url=http://www.lotpublications.nl/publish/articles/001993/bookpart.pdf |access-date=2012-11-14 |archive-date=2013-04-12 |url-status=dead |title=Chapter 5. Split ergativity}} (Sorani is ergative, page 255)</ref> and [[Kurmanji]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lotpublications.nl/publish/articles/001993/bookpart.pdf |title=Chapter 5. Split ergativity |access-date=2012-11-14 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130412222124/http://www.lotpublications.nl/publish/articles/001993/bookpart.pdf |archive-date=2013-04-12 }} (kurmanji is ergative)</ref><ref>{{Cite thesis |last=Mahalingappa |first=Laura Jahnavi |title=The acquisition of split-ergativity in Kurmanji Kurdish |date=2009 |degree=Ph.D. |publisher=The University of Texas at Austin |url=http://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/handle/2152/ETD-UT-2009-12-448}}</ref><ref>[http://www.ling.upenn.edu/nwav/abstracts/nwav36_mahalingappa.pdf Abstract. Laura J. Mahalingappa - University of Texas at Austin] upenn.edu</ref>

Several scholars have hypothesized that [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]] was an ergative language, although this hypothesis is controversial.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Bavant|first=Marc|year=2008|title=Proto-Indo-European Ergativity... Still To Be Discussed|journal=Poznań Studies in Contemporary Linguistics|volume=44|issue=4|pages=433–447|doi=10.2478/v10010-008-0022-y|doi-access=free|hdl=10593/7433|s2cid=55922477}}</ref>

=== Languages with limited ergativity ===
*In [[Hindi]] ([[Indo-Aryan languages|Indo-Aryan]]), ergative alignment occurs only when the verb is in the [[perfective aspect]] for [[transitive verb]]s (also for intransitive verbs but only when they are [[Volitional verbs|volitional]]). 
*In [[Pashto language|Pashto]], ergative alignment occurs only in the past tense. 
*In [[Georgian language|Georgian]], ergativity only occurs in the [[perfective]]. 
*The [[Philippine languages]] (e.g., [[Tagalog language|Tagalog]]) are sometimes considered ergative (Schachter 1976, 1977; Kroeger 1993); however, they have also been considered to have their own unique morphosyntactic alignment. See [[symmetrical voice]].
*In the [[Neo-Aramaic languages]], which are generally classified into 4 groups, only [[Northeastern Neo-Aramaic|Northeastern (NENA)]] and [[Central Neo-Aramaic|Ṭuroyo]] groups exhibit [[split ergativity]], which is formed in the [[perfective]] aspect only, whereas the [[imperfective]] aspect is nominative-accusative. Some dialects would only mark [[unaccusative]] subjects as ergative. Assyrian Neo-Aramaic, in particular, has an ergative type of construction of the [[perfective past]] verbal base, where foregone actions are verbalized by a passive construction with the [[patient (grammar)|patient]] being conferred as the [[grammatical subject]] rather than by an active construction, e.g. ''baxta qtile'' ("the woman was killed by him"). The ergative type of inflection with an agentive phrase has been extended by analogy to intransitive verbs, e.g. ''qim-le'' ("he has risen").<ref>A. Mengozzi, Neo-Aramaic and the So-called Decay of Ergativity in Kurdish, in: Proceedings of the 10th Meeting of Hamito-Semitic (Afroasiatic) Linguistics (Florence, 18–20 April 2005), Dipartamento di Linguistica Università di Firenze 2005, pp. 239–256.</ref> [[Aramaic]] has historically been a nominative-accusative language.<ref>Khan, Geoffrey. 1999. A Grammar of Neo-Aramaic: The Dialect of the Jews of Arbel. Leiden: Brill.</ref>

===Sign languages===
Sign languages (for example, [[Nepalese Sign Language#NSL Morhosyntax|Nepali Sign Language]]) should also generally be considered ergative in the patterning of [[Actant#In linguistics|actant]] incorporation in verbs.<ref>MW Morgan (2009) Cross-Linguistic Typology of Argument Encoding in Sign Language Verbal Morphology. Paper presented at Association of Linguistic Typology, Berkeley</ref> In [[sign language]]s that have been studied, [[classifier handshape]]s are incorporated into verbs, indicating the [[Subject (grammar)|subject]] of [[intransitive verb]]s when incorporated, and the [[Object (grammar)|object]] of [[transitive verb]]s. (If we follow the "[[semantic phonology]]" model proposed by [[William Stokoe]] (1991)<ref>William Stokoe (1991) Semantic Phonology. Sign Language Studies, 71 ,107–114.</ref> this ergative-absolutive patterning also works at the level of the lexicon: thus in [[Nepali Sign Language]] the sign for TEA has the motion for the verb DRINK with a [[manual alphabet]] handshape च /ca/ (standing for the first letter of the [[Nepali language|Nepali]] word TEA चिया /chiya:/) being incorporated as the [[Object (grammar)|object]].)