Morphosyntactic alignment

Morphosyntactic alignment refers to the rules used to distinguish between arguments of a transitive verb and those of an intransitive verb in a language. This distinction can be made by case marking, verb agreement or word order.

Marking core arguments

Transitive verbs have two core arguments, the agent (A) and the patient (P). For example, in the following sentence:

(1) The child throws the ball.

the child is the A and the ball is the P. Intransitive verbs have one core argument, the subject (S). In the sentence

(2) The child laughs.

the child is the S.

Most languages have only two kinds of marking for the three types of core arguments S, A and P, using either one marking for S and A and another for P, or one marking for S and P and another for A. The different morphosyntactic alignments are:

1. Accusative alignment: In a language with accusative alignment, one marking, the nominative, is used for S and A ('subject') and another, the accusative, for P ('object'). Most European languages have accusative alignment. Many accusative languages can detransitive transitive verbs by raising the P to S and demoting or omitting the A. This is called the passive voice.

2. Ergative alignment: In a language with ergative aligment, one marking, the absolutive, is used for S and P and another, the ergative, for A. Examples include Basque and most Caucasian languages. Many ergative languages can detransitivize transitive verbs by raising the A to S and demoting or omitting the P. This is called the antipassive voice.