different between ergative vs mobile

English

Etymology

From the Ancient Greek ??????? (ergát?s, “worker”), from ????? (érgon, “work”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?????t?v/
• (US) enPR: ûr'g?t?v, IPA^(key): /????t?v/

Adjective

ergative (not comparable)

1. (grammar) Used of various situations where the subjects of transitive constructions have different grammatical cases or thematic relations to those of intransitive constructions.

   The case systems of ergative languages are counterintuitive to speakers of Indo-European languages.

   • 1987, George Van Driem, A Grammar of Limbu, page 39,

     The ergative case marks the agent of a transitive verb. The ergative suffix is -le/-re/-lle/-?ille. The form of the ergative suffix is /-le/ for the indefinite and /-?ille/ for the definite after the consonants /?/, /k/, /t/, /p/, /b/, /?/, /n/ and /m/.

   • To illustrate what is meant by an ‘Ergative? structure, consider the following set of examples:
     (155) (a)      John broke the door
     (155) (b)      The door broke
     (156) (a)      John might drown the kittens
     (156) (b)      The kittens might drown
     (157) (a)      The artillery will sink the ship
     (157) (b)      The ship will sink
     (158) (a)      John rolled the ball down the hill
     (158) (b)      The ball rolled down the hill
     Following the terminology adopted in Chapter 7 (after Burzio (1986), p. 30), we might say that the (a) member of each of these pairs is a transitive structure, and the (b) member an ergative structure. In Burzio?s use of the term, an ergative Clause is an intransitive Clause which has a transitive counterpart in which the transitive Object corresponds to the ergative Subject.

   • 2000, Hans Bennis, Adjectives and Argument Structure, Peter Coopmans, Martin Everaert, Jane Barbara Grimshaw (editors), Lexical Specification and Insertion, page 28,

     A large number of adjectives that are unergative according to the tests provided in Section 2 appear to be ergative with respect to their argument structure.

   • 2008, Geoffrey Khan, HdO: The Neo-Aramaic Dialect of Barwar, page 22,

     In Kurdish, on the other hand, the corresponding compound construction, which appears to have been the model for the NENA^{[North-Eastern Neo-Aramaic]} construction, is ergative in form when the verb is transitive.

Derived terms

• ergative-absolutive
• ergative case
• ergative verb

Related terms

• ergativity
• unergative

Noun

ergative (plural ergatives)

1. (linguistics) The ergative case.
   • 2006, Miriam Butt, Theories of Case, page 178.

     There are some languages in which the ergative is not acquired as quickly or as easily as described above.

2. (linguistics) An ergative verb or other expression.
   • 1987, Edward L. Keenan, Noun Phrase Accessibility and Universal Grammar, Universal Grammar: 15 Essays, page 26,

     Woodbury (1975) does argue, however, that absolutives are more relativisable in Greenlandic than are ergatives, on the grounds that (1) RCs^{[Relative Clauses]} formed on ergatives are somewhat more restricted in the distribution in matrix clauses (p. 21) than are those formed on absolutives, and (2) for certain verb classes ergatives cannot be relativised out of the active participle (p. 27).

   • 1994, Virginia Yip, Chapter 6: Grammatical consciousness-raising and learnability, Terence Odlin (editor), Perspectives on Pedagogical Grammar, page 128,

     Ergatives share close similarities with agentless passives: Both are intransitive, both lack an agent, while the patient appears in the subject position. As the acquisition data show, learners seem to treat ergatives like passives.

   • 2012, Michael A. Daniel, Timur A. Maisak, Solmaz R. Merdanova, Causatives in Agul, Pirkko Suihkonen, Bernard Comrie, V. D. Solov?ev (editors), Argument Structure and Grammatical Relations: A Crosslinguistic Typology, page 66,

     Combining two ergatives in one clause is not always ungrammatical in Agul; but one of the ergatives must be used in a non-agentive function, e.g. instrumental or temporal.

Translations

See also

• absolutive
• stative

References

• ergative at OneLook Dictionary Search

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??.?a.tiv/

Adjective

ergative

1. feminine singular of ergatif

Italian

Adjective

ergative

1. feminine plural of ergativo

English

Etymology

From Middle English, from Old French, from Latin m?bilis (“easy to be moved, moveable”), from move? (“move”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?m??ba?l/, /?m??b??l/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?mo?b?l/, /?mo?bil/, /?mo?ba?l/, sculpture always IPA^(key): /?mo?bil/

Adjective

mobile (comparative more mobile, superlative most mobile)

1. Capable of being moved, especially on wheels.

   Antonyms: fixed, immobile, sessile, stationary

2. Pertaining to or by agency of mobile phones.
3. Characterized by an extreme degree of fluidity; moving or flowing with great freedom.

4. Easily moved in feeling, purpose, or direction; excitable; changeable; fickle.

   Synonyms: excitable, fickle

5. Changing in appearance and expression under the influence of the mind.

6. (biology) Capable of being moved, aroused, or excited; capable of spontaneous movement.

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

mobile (plural mobiles)

2. (art) A kinetic sculpture or decorative arrangement made of items hanging so that they can move independently from each other.
4. (telephony, Britain) Ellipsis of mobile phone

   Synonym: cell phone
5. (uncountable, Internet) The internet accessed via mobile devices.

6. Something that can move.

Translations

Related terms

Further reading

• mobile in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• mobile in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• mobile at OneLook Dictionary Search
• mobile on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• mobile phone on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• mobile (sculpture) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• bemoil, emboil, emboli

Danish

Adjective

mobile

1. definite of mobil
2. plural of mobil

Finnish

Etymology

< English mobile

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?mobile/, [?mo?bile?] (nalle-type declension)
• IPA^(key): /?mobile?/, [?mo?bile?(?)] (hame-type declension)
• Rhymes: -obile
• Syllabification: mo?bi?le

Noun

mobile

1. mobile (kinetic sculpture)

Declension

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin m?bilis. Doublet of meuble.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /m?.bil/

Adjective

mobile (plural mobiles)

1. mobile
2. moving
3. movable

Derived terms

Noun

mobile m (plural mobiles)

1. (physics) moving body
2. mobile (decoration)
3. motive (for an action, for a crime)
4. mobile phone; Ellipsis of téléphone mobile

   Synonyms: cell, téléphone cellulaire, cellulaire, téléphone mobile, téléphone portable, portable

Further reading

• “mobile” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

German

Pronunciation

Adjective

mobile

1. inflection of mobil:
   1. strong/mixed nominative/accusative feminine singular
   2. strong nominative/accusative plural
   3. weak nominative all-gender singular
   4. weak accusative feminine/neuter singular

Italian

Etymology

Probably borrowed from Latin m?bilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?m?.bi.le/
• Rhymes: -?bile

Adjective

mobile (plural mobili)

1. movable, mobile

   Antonym: immobile

2. moving

Noun

mobile m (plural mobili)

1. (in the singular) piece of furniture (item of furniture)
2. (in the plural) furniture

   Synonyms: mobilia, mobilio, arredamento

3. (heraldry) charge
4. mobile (cellular phone)

   Synonyms: cellulare, telefonino

   Antonym: fisso

Related terms

Anagrams

• emboli

Latin

Adjective

m?bile

1. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter singular of m?bilis

References

• mobile in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)

Norwegian Bokmål

Adjective

mobile

1. definite singular of mobil
2. plural of mobil

Norwegian Nynorsk

Adjective

mobile

1. definite singular of mobil
2. plural of mobil

Swedish

Adjective

mobile

1. absolute definite natural masculine form of mobil.