unergative en · ADJ
Pronunciation
- /ʌnˈɜːɡətɪv/ (UK)
- /ʌnˈɝɡətɪv/ (US)
Etymology
From un- + ergative, from the fact that in an ergative-absolutive language, the only case which uniquely identifies a volitional argument is the ergative case, which marks the agent of a transitive verb.
Meanings
-
(not-comparable, of a verb) Intransitive and having an agent as its subject.
In Section 1 I will discuss the existence of a class of ergative adjectives in Dutch[…]. It will be demonstrated that there are a number of arguments supporting the claim that the class of adjectives should be divided into ergative and unergative adjectives. A large number of adjectives that are unergative according to the tests provided in Section 2 appear to be ergative with respect to their argument structure.
2000, Hans Bennis, “Adjectives and Argument Structure”, in Peter Coopmans, Martin Everaert, Jane Grimshaw, editors, Lexical Specification and Insertion (Current Issues in Linguistic Theory; 197), Amsterdam; Philadelphia, Pa.: John Benjamins Publishing Company, →ISBN, →ISSN, pages 27–28:
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Translations (3)
pl nieergatywny (intransitive and having an agent as its subject) · hu unergatív (intransitive and having an agent as its subject) · es inergativo (intransitive and having an agent as its subject)