Ergativity

Ergativity is a grammatical pattern that groups the sole argument of an intransitive verb with the object of a transitive verb, separately from the transitive subject.

Ergative–absolutive alignment: A grammatical alignment in which intransitive subjects pattern with transitive objects, unlike transitive subjects. It names the alignment pattern underlying ergativity.
Transitivity: The grammatical property of a verb or clause involving whether it takes a direct object. Ergative alignment is defined by comparing transitive and intransitive clauses.
Basque language: A language isolate spoken chiefly in the western Pyrenees, with ergative case marking and agreement. Basque provides a widely studied example of morphological ergativity.
Nominative–accusative alignment: A grammatical alignment that groups intransitive subjects with transitive subjects, separately from transitive objects. It groups arguments differently from ergative–absolutive alignment.
Ergative case: A grammatical case that commonly marks the agent-like argument of a transitive clause in ergative languages. It is one common way to mark the transitive subject differently.
Intransitive verb: A verb that does not take a direct object in its clause. Its sole argument is grouped with transitive objects under ergative alignment.
Georgian language: A Kartvelian language whose case marking and alignment vary across tense and verb classes. Its alignment shifts illustrate that ergativity can be conditioned by grammatical context.
Active–stative alignment: A grammatical alignment that groups intransitive subjects according to whether they act or undergo an event. It sorts intransitive subjects by semantic role rather than grouping them uniformly with objects.
Absolutive case: A grammatical case that commonly marks intransitive subjects and transitive objects in ergative languages. It marks the argument class shared by intransitive subjects and transitive objects.
Transitive verb: A verb that takes a subject and a direct object in its clause. Its subject is the argument that ergative alignment distinguishes.

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