Ergativity. sb. /'@rg@,tIv@ti:/ [< Gk ergates 'worker' < ergon 'work': cf. Eng work] : Describes a grammatical pattern in which the subject of an intransitive clause is treated in the same way as the object of a transitive clause, and differently from a transitive subject. In systems with inflected case, the former is called the ergative case and the later the absolutive case. Some ergative languages are Basque, Mayan, Sinhalese, and Eskimo.

Examples from Dyirbal, an Australian Aboriginal language:

1a. Numa banaga-nyu
1b. father+abs return-nonfuture
1c. Father returned.

2a. yabu banaga-nyu
2b. mother+abs return-nonfuture
2c. Mother returned.

3a. Numa yabu-Ngu bura-n
3b. father+abs mother-erg see-nonfuture
3c. Mother saw father.

4a. yabu Numa-Ngu bura-n
4b. mother+abs fatther-erg see-nonfuture
4c. Father saw mother.

[R. M. W. Dixon. 1994. Ergativity, 10.]