WordWeb Online

1. A type of language that has an ergative case or in which the direct object of a transitive verb has the same form as the subject of an intransitive verb.
   "An ergative language maintains a syntactic or morphological equivalence (such as the same word order or grammatical case) for the object of a transitive verb and the single core argument of an intransitive verb, while treating the agent of a transitive verb differently.";
   - ergative-absolutive language

Type of: language, linguistic communication

Encyclopedia: Ergative language