SUMERIAN

The nominal template and the non-adverbial cases
3.2 The ergative and the absolutive case
The ergative and the absolutive encode the Agent, the Subject, and the Patient,
the three primary syntactic functions. The ergative case-marker is the enclitic
=/e/; the absolutive case is signalled with the lack of any case-marker, i.e., with
a so-called null-morpheme, indicated in the morphemic glosses of this textbook
as =/ø/.
In ex. (17) below the subject of the transitive verb, the Agent (henceforth,
A), is in the ergative case. The object of the transitive verb, the Patient
(henceforth, P), is in the absolutive.
(17) Gudea Cyl. A 22:9 (Lagash, 22nd c.) (ETCSL 2.1.7)
ensi₂-ke₄ e₂ mu-du₃
P1ensik= P5 e P1e= P5 ø S4mu- S11 n- S12 du- S14 ø
P1 ruler= P5 ERG P1 house= P5ABS VEN-3.SG.H.A.-build-3.SG.P
“The ruler has built the temple.”
In addition to P, the absolutive may also denote the Subject (henceforth, S), the
subject of an intransitive verb. In ex. (18) below, the subject of the intransitive
verb kur₉ “to enter”, the god Nin-geshzida, is in the absolutive case.
(18) Gudea Statue E 8:11–15 (Lagash, 22nd c.) (P232278)
diŋir-ra-ne₂, d nin-ŋeš-zid-da, … mu-na-da-kur₉-kur₉
P1 diŋir= P3 ane P1 ninŋešzidak= P5 ø S4 mu- S6 nn- S7 a- S8 da- S10 n- S12 kur~kur- S14 ø
P1god= P3 3.SG.H.POSS P1 DN= P5 ABS
VEN-3.SG.H-DAT-COM-L1.SYN-enter~PL-3.SG.S
“His (= Gudea’s) personal god, Nin-geshzida, entered (with these gifts to Bau into
her temple in Iri-kug).”
The absolutive case may thus encode both S and P, while the ergative encodes
the A. Languages in which A is encoded with a case different from the one that
encodes both S and P are called ergative. Ergative languages are distinguished
from accusative languages, in which it is the A and S that are encoded similarly
with a case called nominative case, while the P is encoded with a different case
called accusative. Table 3.4 below illustrates the difference between ergative
and accusative languages:
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