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Ergative vs Spread - What's the difference?

ergative | spread |

As nouns the difference between ergative and spread

is that ergative is (linguistics) the ergative case while spread is the act of spreading or something that has been spread.

As an adjective ergative

is (grammar) used of various situations where the subject of transitive constructions have different grammatical cases or thematic relations to those of intransitive constructions.

As a verb spread is

to stretch out, open out (a material etc) so that it more fully covers a given area of space.

ergative

English

Adjective

(-)
  • (grammar) Used of various situations where the subject of transitive constructions have different grammatical cases or thematic relations to those of intransitive constructions.
  • The case systems of ergative languages are counterintuitive to speakers of Indo-European languages.
  • * 1987 , George Van Driem, A Grammar of Limbu , page 39,
  • The ergative' case marks the agent of a transitive verb. The '''ergative''' suffix is ''-le/-re/-lle/-?ille''. The form of the '''ergative suffix is ''/-le/'' for the indefinite and ''/-?ille/'' for the definite after the consonants ''/?/'', ''/k/'', ''/t/'', ''/p/'', ''/b/'', ''/?/'', ''/n/'' and ''/m/ .
  • *
  • To illustrate what is meant by an ‘Ergative? structure, consider the following set of examples:
    (155) (a)      John broke the door''
    (155) (b)      ''The door'' broke
    (156) (a)      John might drown ''the kittens''
    (156) (b)      ''The kittens'' might drown
    (157) (a)      The artillery will sink ''the ship''
    (157) (b)      ''The ship'' will sink
    (158) (a)      John rolled ''the ball'' down the hill
    (158) (b)      ''The ball'' rolled down the hill
    Following the terminology adopted in Chapter 7 (after Burzio (1986), p. 30), we might say that the (a) member of each of these pairs is a ''transitive'' structure, and the (b) member an ''ergative'' structure. In Burzio?s use of the term, an ''ergative
    Clause is an intransitive Clause which has a transitive counterpart in which the transitive Object corresponds to the ergative Subject.
  • * 2000 , Hans Bennis, Adjectives and Argument Structure'', Peter Coopmans, Martin Everaert, Jane Barbara Grimshaw (editors), ''Lexical Specification and Insertion , page 28,
  • 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.
  • * 2008 , Geoffrey Khan, HdO: The Neo-Aramaic Dialect of Barwar , page 22,
  • In Kurdish, on the other hand, the corresponding compound construction, which appears to have been the model for the NENA[North-Eastern Neo-Aramaic] construction, is ergative in form when the verb is transitive.

    Derived terms

    * ergative case * ergative verb

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (linguistics) The ergative case.
  • * 2006 , Miriam Butt, Theories of Case , page 178.
  • There are some languages in which the ergative is not acquired as quickly or as easily as described above.
  • (linguistics) An ergative verb or other expression.
  • * 1987 , Edward L. Keenan, Noun Phrase Accessibility and Universal Grammar'', ''Universal Grammar: 15 Essays , page 26,
  • Woodbury (1975) does argue, however, that absolutives are more relativisable in Greenlandic than are ergatives', on the grounds that (1) RCs[Relative Clauses] formed on '''ergatives''' are somewhat more restricted in the distribution in matrix clauses (p. 21) than are those formed on absolutives, and (2) for certain verb classes ' ergatives cannot be relativised out of the active participle (p. 27).
  • * 1994 , Virginia Yip, Chapter 6: Grammatical consciousness-raising and learnability'', Terence Odlin (editor), ''Perspectives on Pedagogical Grammar , page 128,
  • Ergatives' share close similarities with agentless passives: Both are intransitive, both lack an agent, while the patient appears in the subject position. As the acquisition data show, learners seem to treat ' ergatives like passives.
  • * 2012 , Michael A. Daniel, Timur A. Maisak, Solmaz R. Merdanova, Causatives in Agul'', Pirkko Suihkonen, Bernard Comrie, V. D. Solov?ev (editors), ''Argument Structure and Grammatical Relations: A Crosslinguistic Typology , page 66,
  • Combining two ergatives' in one clause is not always ungrammatical in Agul; but one of the ' ergatives must be used in a non-agentive function, e.g. instrumental or temporal.

    See also

    * absolutive * stative ----

    spread

    English

    Verb

  • To stretch out, open out (a material etc.) so that it more fully covers a given area of space.
  • To extend (individual rays, limbs etc.); to stretch out in varying or opposing directions.
  • To disperse, to scatter or distribute over a given area.
  • To proliferate; to become more widely present, to be disseminated.
  • *
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Old soldiers? , passage=Whether modern, industrial man is less or more warlike than his hunter-gatherer ancestors is impossible to determine.
  • To disseminate; to cause to proliferate, to make (something) widely known or present.
  • To take up a larger area or space; to expand, be extended.
  • To smear, to distribute in a thin layer.
  • To cover (something) with a thin layer of some substance, as of butter.
  • To prepare; to set and furnish with provisions.
  • to spread a table
  • * Tennyson
  • Boiled the flesh, and spread the board.
  • (slang) To open one’s legs.
  • * 1984 , (Martin Amis), :
  • This often sounds like the rap of a demented DJ: the way she moves has got to be good news, can't get loose till I feel the juice— suck and spread , bitch, yeah bounce for me baby.
  • * 1991 , (Tori Amos), (Me and a Gun) :
  • Yes I wore a slinky red thing. Does that mean I should spread for you, your friends, your father, Mr Ed?
  • * 2003 , (Outkast), "Spread" (from the album ):
  • I don't want to move too fast, but / Can't resist your sexy ass / Just spread', ' spread for me; / (I can't, I can't wait to get you home)

    Synonyms

    * disseminate * circulate * propagate * put about

    Derived terms

    * spread betting

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The act of spreading or something that has been spread.
  • * Francis Bacon
  • No flower hath spread like that of the woodbine.
  • An expanse of land.
  • * Addison
  • I have got a fine spread of improvable land.
  • A large tract of land used to raise livestock; a cattle ranch.
  • * 2005 , , 00:11:50:
  • - Can’t wait till I get my own spread and won’t have to put up with Joe Aguirre’s crap no more.
    - I’m savin’ for a place myself.
  • A piece of material used as a cover (such as a bedspread).
  • A large meal, especially one laid out on a table.
  • Any form of food designed to be spread such as butters or jams
  • An item in a newspaper or magazine that occupies more than one column or page.
  • A numerical difference.
  • (business, economics) The difference between the wholesale and retail prices.
  • (trading, economics, finance) The difference between the price of a futures month and the price of another month of the same commodity.
  • (trading, finance) The purchase of a futures contract of one delivery month against the sale of another futures delivery month of the same commodity.
  • (trading, finance) The purchase of one delivery month of one commodity against the sale of that same delivery month of a different commodity.
  • (trading) An arbitrage transaction of the same commodity in two markets, executed to take advantage of a profit from price discrepancies.
  • (trading) The difference between bidding and asking price.
  • (finance) The difference between the prices of two similar items.
  • (geometry) An unlimited expanse of discontinuous points.
  • Synonyms

    * straddle

    Statistics

    *