ergative–absolutive language
C8748
concept
An ergative–absolutive language is a language whose grammar groups the subject of an intransitive verb with the object of a transitive verb (absolutive) and treats the subject of a transitive verb differently (ergative), in contrast to nominative–accusative alignment.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| ergative–absolutive language canonical | 3 |
Description generation (CDg)
The one-sentence description above was generated by prompting gpt-5.1 with the class name and this instruction.
Instruction
generate a one-sentence description for a given conceptual class. # Response Format Return only the sentence: "Description: [one-sentence description of the conceptional class]"
Input
Class: ergative–absolutive language
Generated description
An ergative–absolutive language is a language whose grammar groups the subject of an intransitive verb with the object of a transitive verb (absolutive) and treats the subject of a transitive verb differently (ergative), in contrast to nominative–accusative alignment.
Instances (3)
| Instance | Via concept surface |
|---|---|
| Burúśaski | — |
| Hurrian | — |
| Lak language | — |