ergativeagglutinative

Ergative-agglutinative refers to a linguistic typology that combines two distinct features of grammar. The ergative aspect relates to how subjects of transitive verbs are marked differently from subjects of intransitive verbs and objects of transitive verbs. In an ergative system, the subject of an intransitive verb and the object of a transitive verb are typically marked with the same case (often called the absolutive case), while the subject of a transitive verb is marked with a different case (the ergative case). This contrasts with nominative-accusative systems, common in many Indo-European languages, where the subject of both intransitive and transitive verbs is marked the same (nominative) and the object of a transitive verb is marked differently (accusative).

The agglutinative aspect describes how grammatical information is conveyed. In agglutinative languages, morphemes (meaningful units) are added to a root word in a clear, sequential, and unambiguous manner, with each morpheme typically representing a single grammatical function. These morphemes are generally distinct and do not change their form significantly when combined. For example, a single verb might have a root meaning "to see," followed by a morpheme for "past tense," then another for "plural subject," and finally one for "first person."

Therefore, an ergative-agglutinative language would employ an ergative case marking system for its verbs and use an agglutinative morphology for word formation and grammatical inflection. Examples of languages that exhibit characteristics of both ergativity and agglutination include some Caucasian languages and certain indigenous languages of the Americas. The interplay between these two typological features can create complex but systematic grammatical structures.