Ergative Language

In an ErgativeLanguage, the subject of an intransitive verb and the object of a transitive verb are considered to be the same case and are marked in the same way.

Indo-European languages, including English, are NominativeAccusative? languages.

Consider:

   The man opened the door.

   The door opened.

In English man is Nominative, whereas door is nominative in the second sentence and Accusative in the first.

In an ErgativeLanguage, door has the same case (Absolutive) in both sentences, man in the first sentence is Ergative.

It takes a lot of brain-warping to switch from one system to the other.

Basque, Georgian, and the Yucatec (Mayan) languages are ergative.

It has been suggested that IndoEuropeanLanguage was originally ergative.