Ergativity in the Pacific

This paper examines ergative and accusative alignment systems across Pacific languages, focusing on how core grammatical roles—agent (A), patient (P), and intransitive subject (S)—are treated. While languages like English show accusative alignment (A = S), others like Avar exhibit ergative alignment (P = S). The paper's author Barry Blake explores mixed systems in Australian languages such as Warlpiri, which show ergative case marking but accusative-like syntactic behavior, and Dyirbal, which demonstrates syntactic ergativity. The paper also discusses Philippine-type languages with dual transitive constructions, proposing an extended definition of ergativity based on discourse and morphological marking. Through comparative analysis, Blake highlights the complexity and diversity of alignment systems in the Pacific, challenging binary classifications and emphasizing the need for nuanced grammatical typologies (AI generated abstract, Copilot)